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I 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS 

THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 



IN 



ADVENTURES OF TWO YOUTHS IN A JOURNEY IN 

EUROPEAN AND ASIATIC RUSSIA, WITH ACCOUNTS OF A TOUR ACROSS SIBERIA 
VOYAGES ON THE A1I0OR, VOLGA, AND OTHER RIVERS, A VISIT TO 
CENTRAL ASIA, TRAVELS AMONG THE EXILES, AND A HISTORICAL 
SKETCH OF THE EMPIRE FROM ITS FOUNDATION 
TO THE PRESENT TIME 



By THOMAS W. KNOX 



3llustratcb 




NEW YORK 

HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 

1887 



By THOMAS W. KNOX. 

TTTF ROY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST. Five Vol- 
TII umef Copiouslf Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $8 00 each The 
volumes sold separately. Each volume complete m itself. 

I. Adventures op Two Youths in a Journey to Japan and China. 

II Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Siam and Java With 
Descriptions of Cochin-China, Cambodia, Sumatra, and the Malay Arch.pelago. 

Ill ADVENTURES OP TWO YOUTHS IN A JOURNEY TO CEYLON AND INDIA. With 

Descriptions of Borneo, the Philippine Islands, and Burman. 

IV. Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Egypt and Palestine. 
V. Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey through Africa. 

THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN SOUTH AMERICA. Adven- 
tures of Two Youths in a Journey through Ecuador, Peru 
Bolivia Brazil, Paraguay, Argentine Republic, and Chili; with 
Descriptions of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, and Voyages 
upon the Amazon and La Plata Rivers. Copiously Illustrated. 
8vo, Cloth, $3 00. 

THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE^ 
Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey in European and 
Asiatic Russia, with Accounts of a Tour across Siberia, V oy- 
ages on the Amoor, Volga, and other Rivers, a Visit to Central 
Asia Travels Among the Exiles, and a Historical Sketch of the 
Empire from its Foundation to the Present Time. Copiously 
Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $3 00. 

THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN" TO THE NORTH POLE 
AND BEYOND. Adventures of Two Youths in the Open 
Polar Sea. Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $2 50. 

HUNTING ADVENTURES ON LAND AND SEA. Two 
Volumes. Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $2 50 each. The 
volumes sold separately. Each volume complete in itself. 

I. The Young Nimrods in North America. 

II. The Young Nimrods Around the World. 



Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 

jg®=- Any of the above volumes sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United- 
States or Canada, on receipt of the price. 



Copyright, 1886, by Harper & Brothers. — All rights reserved. 



PREFACE. 



IN" preparing this volume for the press, the author has followed very 
closely the plan adopted for " The Boy Travellers in the Far East," 
and also for his more recent work, " The Boy Travellers in South Amer- 
ica." Accompanied by their versatile and accomplished mentor, Dr. 
Bronson, our young friends, Frank Bassett and Fred Bronson, journeyed 
from Yienna to Warsaw and St. Petersburg, and after an interesting so- 
journ in the latter city, proceeded to Moscow, the ancient capital of the 
Czars. From Moscow they went to ISTijni Novgorod, to attend the great 
fair for which that city is famous, and thence descended the Yolga to the 
Caspian Sea. On their way down the great river they visited the prin- 
cipal towns and cities along its banks, saw many strange people, and lis- 
tened to numerous tales and legends concerning the races which make up 
the population of the great Muscovite Empire. 

They visited the recently developed petroleum fields of the Caspian, 
and, after crossing that inland sea, made a journey in Central Asia to 
study certain phases of the " Eastern Question," and learn something 
about the difficulties that have arisen between England and Kussia. Af- 
terwards they travelled in the Caucasus, visited the Crimea, and bade fare- 
well to the Empire as they steamed away from Odessa. Concerning the 
parts of Kussia that they were unable to visit they gathered much infor- 
mation, and altogether their notes, letters, and memoranda would make a 
portly volume. 

The author has been three times in the Russian Empire, and much of 
the country described by " The Boy Travellers " was seen and traversed 
by him. In his first journey he entered the Czar's dominions at Petro- 
pavlovsk in Kamtchatka, ascended the Amoor River through its entire 
navigable length, traversed Siberia from the Pacific Ocean to the Ural 
Mountains, and continuing thence to Kazan, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and 
Warsaw, left the protection of the Russian flag eleven thousand miles 
from where he first went beneath it. His second visit included the Cri- 




6 



PREFACE. 



mea and other regions bordering the Black Sea, and his third was confined 
to Finland and other Baltic provinces. 

In addition to his personal observations in Russia, the author has 
drawn upon the works of others. Many books of Russian travel and his- 
tory have been examined ; some of them have been mentioned in the text 
of the narrative, but it has not been practicable to refer to all. Indebt- 
edness is hereby acknowledged to the following books : " Free Russia," 
by Hepworth Dixon; "Turkestan" and "Life of Peter the Great," by 
Hon. Eugene Schuyler ; " A Ride to Khiva," by Col. Fred Burnaby ; 
" Campaigning on the Oxus, and the Fall of Khiva," by J. A. Macgahan ; 
u Life of Peter the Great" and "Life of Genghis Khan," by Jacob Ab- 
bott; "The Siberian Overland Route," by Alexander Miehie; "Tent-life 
in Siberia," by George Kennan ; " Reindeer, Dogs, and Snow-shoes," by 
Richard J. Bush ; " The Invasion of the Crimea," by A. W. Kinglake ; 
" Fred Markham in Russia," by W. H. G. Kingston ; " The Knout and 
the Russians," by G. De Lagny ; " The Russians at the Gates of Herat " 
and " The Region of the Eternal Fire," by Charles Marvin ; " Travels in 
the Regions of the Upper and Lower Amoor " and " Oriental and "West- 
ern Siberia," by Thomas TV . Atkinson ; and " The Russians at Home," 
by Sutherland Edwards. The author has also drawn upon several articles 
in Harper's Magazine, including his own series describing his journey 
through Siberia. 

The publishers have kindly permitted the use of illustrations from 
their previous publications on the Russian Empire, in addition to those 
specially prepared for this book. As a result of their courtesy, the author 
has been able to present a " copiously illustrated " book, which is always a 
delight to the youthful eye. 

T. W. K. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Departure from Vienna. —Frank's Letter. — A Farewell Promenade. — From 
Vienna to Cracow. —The Great Salt-mine of Wieliczka, and what was 
seen there. — Churches and Palaces Underground. —Voyage on a Subter- 
ranean Lake 



CHAPTER II. 

Leaving Cracow.- The Russian Frontier.- The Police and the Custom-h 
—Russian Censorship of Books and Papeus.— Catching a Smuggler.— 
the Frontier to Warsaw.— Sights and Incidents in the Capital of Pola 
From Warsaw to St. Petersburg 



CHAPTER III. 

In the Streets of St. Petersburg.— Isvoshchiks and Droskies.— Counting in Rus- 
sian — Passports and their Uses. — On the Nevski Prospect. — Visiting the 
Church of Kazan.— The Russo-Greek Religion.— Unfavorable Position of 
St. Petersburg.— Danger of Destruction.— Great Inundation of 1821.— Statue 
of Peter the Great.— Admiralty Square.— The Sailors and the Statue 



CHAPTER IV. 

Dinner in a Russian Restaurant. — Cabbage Soup, Fish Pies, and other odd 
Dishes. — The " Samovar " and its Uses. — Russian Tea-drinkers. — " Joltai 
Chai."— Alexander's Column.— Fortress of Sts. Peter and Paul.— Imperial 
Assassinations.— Sketches of the People.— Russian Police and their Ways. . 



CHAPTER V. 

Number and Character of the Russian People.— Pan-Slavic Union.— St. Isaac's 
Church: its History and Description.— The Winter Palace and the Her- 
mitage. — Sights in the Palace. — Catherine's Rules for her Receptions. — 
John Paul Jones in Russia. —The Crown Jewels and the Orloff Diamond. 
—Anecdotes of the Emperor Nicholas.— Relics of Peter the Great.— From 
Palace to Prison.— Tombs of Russia's Emperors. —A Monument and an Anec- 
dote 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Gostinna Dvor : its Extent and Character.— Peculiarity of Russian Shop- 
ping.— Curious Customs. — Old-clothes Market. — Hay-market.— Pigeons in 
Russian Cities.— Frozen Animals.— Church and Monastery of St. Alexander 
Nevski. — A Persian Train. — A Coffin of Solid Silver. — The Summer Gar- 



8 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

1)KN ._Speaking to the Emperor. — Kriloff and his Fables.— Visit to a Rus- 
sian Theatre. — " A Life for the Czar." — A Russian Comedy 110 

CHAPTER VII. 

Newspapers in Russia : their Number, Character, and Influence.— Difficulties 
of Editorial Life.— The Censorship.— An Excursion to Peterhof, Oranien- 

BAUM, AND CRONSTADT. — SlGHTS IN THE SUMMER PALACE. — CrONSTADT AND THE 

Naval Station.— The Russian Navy.— The Russian Army: its Composition and 
Numbers.— The Cossacks.— Anecdotes of Russian Military Life 130 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Visiting the University of St. Petersburg.— Education in Russia.— Primary and 
other Schools. —The System of Instruction. — Recent Progress in Educa- 
tional Matters. — Universities in the Empire: their Number and Location. 
—Religious Liberty. — Treatment of the Jews. —The Islands of the Neva, 

AND WHAT WAS SEEN THERE. — In A " TrAKTIR."— BRIBERY AMONG RUSSIAN OF- 



FICIAL! 



150 



CHAPTER IX. 

Studies of St. Petersburg.— Mujiks.—" The Imperial Nosegay." — A ShoRt His- 
tory of Russian Serfdom : its Origin, Growth, and Abuses. — Emancipation 
of the Serfs. — Present Condition of the Peasant Class. — Seeing the Em- 
peror.— How the Czar appears in Public. — Public and Secret Police: their 
Extraordinary Powers. — Anecdotes of Police Severity. — Russian Courts of 
Law • ...172 

CHAPTER X. 

Winter in Russia. — Fashionable and other Furs. — Sleighs and Sledges. — No 
Sleigh-bells in Russian Cities. — Official Opening of the Neva. — Russian 
Ice-hills. — " Butter- week." — Kissing at Easter. — An Active Kissing-time. — 
Russian Stoves and Baths. — Effects of Severe Cold. — The Story of the 
Frozen Nose. — How Men are Frozen to Death 193 

CHAPTER XL 

Leaving St. Petersburg. — Novgorod the Great: its History and Traditions. — 
rurik and his successors. barbarities of john the terrible. — early his- 
TORY of Russia.— An Imperial Bear-hunt. — Origin of the House of Roman- 
off. — "A Life for the Czar." — Railways in Russia from Novgorod to 
Moscow 211 

CHAPTER XIL 

First Impressions of Moscow. — Undulations of the Ground. — Irregularity of 
the Buildings, and the Cause thereof. — Napoleon's Campaign in Russia. — 
Disaster and Retreat. — The Burning of Moscow. — The Kremlin: its Church- 
es, Treasures, and Historical Associations. — Anecdotes of Russian Life.— 
The Church of St. Basil 230 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Great Theatre of Moscow. — Operatic Performances. — The Kitai Gorod 
and Gostinna Dvor. — Romanoff House and the Romanoff Family. — Sketch of 



CONTENTS. 9 

PAGK 

the Rulers of Russia.— Anecdotes of Peter the Great and others.— Church 
of the Saviour. — Mosques and Pagodas. — The Museum. — Riding-school. — 
Suhareff Tower.— Traktirs.— Old Believers.— The Sparrow Hills and the 
Simonoff Monastery. • • • • 2l)2 



CHAPTER XIV. 

A Visit to the Troitska Monastery, and what was seen there. — Curious Le- 
gends.— Monks at Dinner.— European Fairs.— The Great Fair at Nijni Nov- 
gorod.— Sights and Scenes.— Minin's Tomb and Tower.— Down the Volga by 
Steamboat. — Steam Navigation on the great River. — Kazan, and what was 

SEEN THERE. — THE ROUTE TO SIBERIA • • 271 



CHAPTER XV. 

Avatcha Bay, in Kamtch atk a. — Attack upon Petropavlovsk by the Allied 
Fleet.— Dogs and Dog-driving.— Rapid Travelling with a Dog-team. — Popu- 
lation and Resources of Kamtchatka. — Reindeer and their Uses. —The 
Amoor River. — Native Tribes and Curious Customs. — Tigers in Siberia.— 
Navigation of the Amoor. — Overland Travelling in Siberia. — Riding in a 
Tarantasse. — A Rough Road. — An Amusing Mistake. — From Stratensk to 
Nertchinsk. — Gold-mining in Siberia 289 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Exiles of Siberia— The Decembrists and their Experience.— ScIIal Posi- 
tion of Exiles.— Different Classes of Exiles and their Sentences.— Crimi- 
nals and Politicals.— Degrees of Punishment.— Perpetual Colonists.— How 
Exiles Travel. — Lodging-houses and Prisons.— Convoys.— Thrilling Story 
of an Escape from Siberia. — Secret Roads. — How Peasants treat the Ex- 
iles.— Prisoners in Chains 313 



CHAPTER XVIL 

Character of the Siberian Population. — Absence of Serfdom, and its Effect. 

A Russian F£te. — Amusements of the Peasantry. — Courtship and Marriage. 

—Curious Customs.— Whipping a Wife.— Overland through Siberia again.— 
Chetah and the Bouriats.— In a Bouriat Village.— Verckne Udinsk.— Sibe- 
rian Robbers.— Tea-trains and Tea-trade.— Kiachta.— Lodged by the Police. 
— Trade between Russia and China 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

General Aspects of Mai-mai-chin.— Dinner with a Chinese Governor.— A The- 
atrical Performance.— Lake Baikal : its Remarkable Features.— A Wonder- 
ful Ride. — Irkutsk: its Population, Size, and Peculiarities. — Social Gay- 
etIes. — Preparations for a long Sleigh-ride.— List of Garments.— Varieties 
of Sleighs.— Farewell to Irkutsk.— Sleighing Incidents.— Food on the Road. 

Siberian Mails. — Advantages of Winter Travelling. — Sleighing on bare 

Ground.— A Snowless Region. — Krasnoyarsk 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Position and Character of Krasnoyarsk. — A Lesson in Russian Pronunciation.— 
Market Scene.— Siberian Trees.— The " Oukhaba." — A New Sensation.— Road- 
fever and its Cause. — An Exciting Adventure with Wolves. — How Wolves 
are Hunted. — From Krasnoyarsk to Tomsk. — Steam Navigation in Siberia.— 



10 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Baenaool. — Mines of the Altai. -Tigers and Tiger Stories.-The "Bouran."- 
Aoross the Baraba Steppe. — Ttjmkn and Ekaterineburg.- From Europe to 
Asiv -Perm, Kazan, and Nijni Novgorod.— End of the Sleigh-ride 6H 



CHAPTER XX. 

Down the Voigv again.— Russian Reception Ceremony.— Simbirsk, Samara, and 
SARATO v - German Settlers on the Volga. - Don Cossacks. — Astrachan.- 
Curious Population. — Voyage on the Caspian Sea.— The Caspian Petroleum 
RjsgI on — Tank-steamers.— Interesting Facts and Figures of the New Petro- 
LiA — Present Product of the Baku Oil-fields. — Excursion to Balakhani, 
and Visit to the Oil-wells.— Temples of the Fire-worshippers.— Antiquity 
of the Caspian Petroleum Region.— Marco Polo and other Authorities. .. . 



403 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Glance at Central Asia.— Russian Conquest in Turkestan.— War and Diplo- 
macy AMONG THE KlRGHESE TRIBES. — RUSSIAN TAXES AND THEIR COLLECTION. — 

Turcoman and Kirghese Raids. — Prisoners sold into Slavery. — Fortified 
Villages and Towers of Refuge. — Commerce in Turkestan. — Jealousy of 
Foreigners,— Travels of Vambery and Others.— Vambery's Narrow Escape. 
—Turcoman Character. —Payments for Human Heads. — Marriage Customs 

AMONG THE TURCOMANS.— EXTENT AND POPULATION OF CENTRAL ASIA 428 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Frank and Fred in the Turcoman Country. — The Trans-Caspian Railway.— 
Skobelefp's Campaign, and the Capture of Geok Tepe. — English Jealousy 
of Russian Advances.— Rivers of Central Asia.— The Oxus and Jaxartes.— 
Agriculture by Irrigation. — Khiva, Samarcand, and Bokhara. — A Ride on 
the Trans-Caspian Railway.— Statistics of the Line.— Kizil Arvat, Askabad, 
and Sarakhs. — Route to Herat and India. — Turcoman Devastation. — The 
Afghan Boundary Question. — How Merv was Captured. — O'Donovan and 
MacGahan : their Remarkable Journeys. — Railway Route from England to 
India. — Return to Baku. - . „ 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Baku to Tiflis.— The Capital of the Caucasus. — Mountain Travelling.— Cross- 
ing the Range. — Petroleum Locomotives. — Batoum and its Importance.— 
Trebizond and Euzeroom. — Sebastopol and the Crimea. — Short History 
of the Crimean War.— Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.— Battles in the Crimea 
and Siege of Sebastopol. — Visiting the Malakoff and Redan Forts. — View 
of the Battle-fields.— Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava.— Pres- 
ent Condition of Sebastopol. — Odessa. — Arrival at Constantinople. — Frank's 
Dream. — The End • • • 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Winter Scene in Russu 



Frontispiece. 



Fred's Reminder. . 15 

St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna 16 

View of the Palace of Cracow 17 

Kosciusko, 1777 I 8 

Kosciusko, 1817 19 

Church of St. Mary, Cracow 20 

Polish Jew of high Rank 21 

Polish Jews of the Middle Class 22 

Our Guide in Costume 23 

The Inspector-general 24 

The Shaft • • 26 

Descending the Shaft 27 

Lamp-bearers 28 

A Foot-path 29 

An Underground Chapel 31 

Men Cutting Salt in the Mine 32 

Finishing the Columns 33 

Subterranean Stables 34 

A Mining Singer. 35 

"Gliick-auf!" 36 

Fete in the Grand Saloon of Entertainment, 37 

A Retired Director 38 

Outer Wall of Cracow. 40 

Custom-house Formalities 41 

Passport not Correct 42 

In the Passport Bureau 43 

Way Station on the Railway 45 

Before Examination 46 

After Examination 47 

Scene on the Railway 48 

Shutes for loading Coal on the Railway 49 

Polish National Costumes 50 

Peasant's Farm-house 51 

Royal Palace at Warsaw 52 

Shrine at a Gate-way 53 

Lake in the Park 54 

A Business Man of Warsaw 55 

In St. Petersburg 56 

Isvoshchiks in Winter 59 

Drosky Drivers 60 

. Sledge of a high Official , 63 

Russian Workmen on their way Home .... 65 



Russian Officer with Decorations 66 

A Russian Priest 68 

Convent of Solovetsk in the Frozen Sea. ... 71 

The Inundation of 1824 72 

Statue of Peter the Great 73 

Improvising a Statue 75 

Tea-sellers in the Streets 77 

Russian Restaurant at the Paris Exposition. 78 

An Out-door Tea-party 79 

Russian Mujiks drinking Tea 81 

Plant from which Yellow Tea is made 82 

Column in Memory of Alexander 1 83 

Peter the Great 85 

Assassination of Peter III 87 

Paul 1 88 

Russian and Finn 89 

Dvornik and Postman 90 

Lodgings at the Frontier 91 

Ordered to leave Russia 92 

Finland Peasants in Holiday Costume 94 

Inhabitants of Southern Russia 95 

St. Isaac's Church and Admkalty Square. . 96 

Priest of the Church of St. Isaac 98 

Catherine II. of Russia 99 

Reception of John Paul Jones by the Em- 
press Catherine 101 

Russian Attack on the Turkish Galley 103 

The Orloff Diamond 104 

Nicholas 1 105 

Peter III 106 

Circassian Arms as Trophies of Battle 107 

Statue of Nicholas I 108 

Politeness in the Market-place Ill 

Importuning a Visitor 113 

Frozen Animals in the Market 114 

Market for old Clothes 116 

Pigeons in a Russian City 118 

Persian Horses presented by the Shah .... 119 

Russian Peasant Girl 120 

Russian Nurse-maid and Children 121 

Some of Kriloff's Friends 122 

Kriloff's Characters in Convention. . 123 



12 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

The Fox as a Law-giver 126 

One of Kriloff's Characters 127 

Closing Scene in a Russian Play 128 

Kriloff's Statue in the Summer Garden, St. 

Petersburg i29 

Press-room of a Daily Newspaper 131 

Interviewing an Editor I 32 

Prince Gortehakoff I 33 

Cabinet and Chair in the Palace 135 

Illumination in a Russian Park 136 

Tapestry and Fire Utensils at Peterhof 137 

Door-way of Peter's House at Zaandam, Hol- 
land 138 

A Student of Navigation 139 

Steam Frigate near Cronstadt 140 

Frigate under Sail and Steam . . 141 

The Dreadnought — type of the Peter the 



Great 



142 



The Russian Army— Regular Troops . . 143 

Cossack Lancers and Russian Guard-house. 144 

The Russian Army— Irregular Troops 146 

Grand-duke Michael 148 

Iron-clad Steamer of the Baltic Fleet 149 

Little Folks at School 151 

Learning to Weave 152 

Mineral Cabinet in the University. 153 

Parlor in a High-school for Women . . 155 

Private Room of a wealthy Student 156 

Lower Recitation-room 157 

One of the Professors 158 

Descending a Shaft 159 

Galleries in a Mine 160 

In the Library 161 

A College Dormitory 162 

Jewish Burial-ground 163 

Clothes-dealer of Moscow 164 

A Russian Troika 165 

A Villa on the Island 166 

A Russian Family 167 

Culprit Street-sweepers. 169 

A Business Transaction 170 

Peter the Great dressed for Battle ........ 171 

An Imperial Nosegay. 173 

Mujiks playing Cards 174 

Peasant's House in Southern Russia 176 

Peasants' Huts . . . . 178 

Esthonian Peasants 179 

Alexander II., the Liberator of the Serfs. . . 181 
Alexander III., Emperor of Russia. ....... 1 

Battle between Russians and Circassians. . . 184 

SchamyPs Village in the Caucasus 185 

The Empress Marie Feodorovna, Wife of 

Alexander III 186 

Russian Peasants at their Recreation 1 

" Who is the Spy ?" 1 



Officers sitting in Judgment 191 

Russian Grand-duke and Grand-duchess . . 192 

ur-bearing Seals 194 

Sea-otter 195 

The Beaver 195 

The Ermine 196 

The Raccoon 196 

Russian Ice-hills 198 

Soldiers off Duty— Butter-week 199 

The Easter Kiss — agreeable 200 

The Easter Kiss — in the Family 200 

he Easter Kiss— difficult 201 

The Easter Kiss — disagreeable 201 

The Emperor's Easter Kiss 203 

Peasant Girl in Winter Dress 204 

A Bath in the East 206 

Russian Street Scene in Winter 208 

Lost in a Snow-storm 210 

Workmen of Novgorod — Glazier, Painter, 

and Carpenters 212 

An Old Norse Chief 213 

View on the Steppe . . , 216 

Ivan the Terrible 217 

Alexis Michailovitch, Father of Peter the 

Great 219 

Michael Feodorovitch, First Czar of the Ro- 
manoff Family '. . . . 220 

Too near to be pleasant 221 

Wolf attacking its Hunters 222 

Old Picture in the Church 224 

A Bishop of the Greek Church 225 

Millennial Monument at Novgorod . 227 

Russian Boats. 228 

Portrait of Catherine II. in the Kremlin Col- 
lection 229 

Street Scene in Moscow 231 

Bivouacking in the Snow 232 

Battle between French and Russians 233 

Napoleon Retreating from Moscow 235 

Alexander 1 236 

View in the Kremlin 237 

A Prisoner ordered to Execution 238 

The Kremlin of Moscow 239 

The Great Bell underground 240 

Visiting the Great Bell 241 

Empress Anne 242 

The Empress Elizabeth 243 

Coronation of Alexander III 245 

Peter II 246 

Bishop in his Robes 247 

Great Gun at Moscow 249 

The Cathedral at Moscow 250 

Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow 251 

Dress of Peasants— Scene from a Russian 
Opera 253 



ILLUSTRATIONS . 



13 



A Dressing-room of the Opera-house 254 

Working the Ship in " L'Af ricaine " 255 

Minin-Pojarsky Monument 25*7 

Peter's Escape from Assassination 258 

Peter the Great as Executioner 260 

Catherine 1 261 

Catherine II 263 

Grand-duke Nicholas Alexandrovitch 264 

Skinned and Stuffed Man 266 

Russian Beggars 267 

Tartar Coffee-house in Southern Russia. . . . 269 

Gallery in the Palace 270 

Copy of Picture in the Monastery 272 

Window in Church of the Trinity 273 

Pity the Poor 274 

Curious Agate at Troitska 275 > 

Paper-knife from Troitska— St. Sergius and 

the Bear 276 

Specimens of Ecclesiastical Painting on Glass 277 

Russian Cooper's Shop and Dwelling 278 

Nijni Novgorod during the Fair 280 

Nijni Novgorod after the Fair 281 

Tartar Merchant 282 

Returning from the Fair 283 

Launching a Russian Barge 285 

Tartar Village near the Volga 286 

Tartar Baker's Shop 287 

A Siberian Village 289 

Petropavlovsk, Kamtchatka. — Mount Avat- 

cha in Background 290 

A Herd of Reindeer 291 

Dog-teams and Reindeer 293 

Light-house at Ghijigha 294 

Ermine-trap 295 

Interior of a Native House 295 

The Reindeer 296 

Fish-market at Nicolayevsk 297 

Scenery on the Amoor. 298 

Gilyak' Woman 299 

Gilyak Man 299 

Native Boat — Amoor River 300 

Goldee Children 300 

Visiting a Goldee House at Night 301 

Inauguration of Genghis Khan 302 

Junction of the Argoon and Shilka to form 

the Amoor 303 

Scene in a Posting Station 304 

A Tarantasse 306 

Changing Horses at a Siberian Station 307 

The Right of Way in Russia 309 

Getting out of Difficulty 310 

Valley of the Amoor above Ouk-se-me 312 

Interior of an Exile's Hut 314 

Exiles passing through a Village 315 

A Town built by Exiles 317 



PAGE 

Banished for Five Years 318 

Banished for Three Years 318 

Colonist's Village in Winter 319 

Exiles leaving Moscow 321 

Tagilsk, centre of Iron-mines of Siberia. . . . 322 

A Siberian Valley 323 

Two Exiled Friends Meeting 325 

Escaping Exiles crossing a Stream 326 

Ivanoff's Cave 327 

Exiles among the Mountains 329 

Siberian Peasants 331 

Siberian Milk-women 332 

Siberia in Summer 333 

An Exile Peasant and his Friends 335 

A Siberian Landscape 336 

Girls Playing at Skakiet 337 

A Village Festival 338 

Russian Peasant Women 340 

Making Calls after a Wedding 342 

Ceremony after a Peasant's Wedding 343 

The Mountains near Chetah 345 

A Bouriat Village 346 

A Wandering Priest 347 

Crossing the Selenga 349 

Finding Lodgings at Kiachta 351 

Chinese Cash from Mai-mai-chin 352 

Articles of Russian Manufacture 353 

Scene in a Chinese Temple 354 

Theatre at Mai-mai-chin 355 

The Tiger 356 

A Natural Arch on Lake Baikal 357 

Caverns on Lake Baikal 358 

Part of Irkutsk 359 

View of the Principal Square in Irkutsk. . . 360 

Dressed for the Road 362 

AVashok 363 

MyKibitka 364 

Farewell to Irkutsk 365 

Work of the Frost-king 367 

Interior of a Russian Inn 369 

Mail-driver and Guard 370 

Distant View of a Siberian Village 371 

Soldiers in Siberian Ferry-boats 373 

View of Krasnoyarsk from the opposite Bank 

of the Yenisei 374 

A Dangerous Ride 376 

Beggar at a Siberian Station 378 

Policeman at Krasnoyarsk 380 

Hills near a Siberian River 381 

Jumping an " Oukhaba" 382 

Wolves Attacking a Buffalo 384 

A Siberian Wolf 385 

Summer and Winter in Russia 386 

Village on a Russian Estate 388 

A Slight Mishap 389 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Summer View near Barnaool 391 

Attacked by a Tiger 393 

Bearcoots and Wolves 394 

The Steppe in Summer 395 

Specimen of Rock-crystal 397 

Monument at the Boundary 397 

Western Slope of the Ural Mountains 398 

Descending a Hill-side Road 400 

Baptizing through the Ice . 401 

End of the Sleigh-ride 402 



Offering of the Villagers 

Shoeing an Ox 

Knife- whip 

Armenian Bishop of Astrachan . 
A Tartar Khan 



404 
406 
407 
408 
409 



Tartar Postilions 410 

Tartar Palaces in Southern Russia 411 

Gypsy Family at Astrachan 412 

An Oil-steamer on the Caspian Sea 413 

Tanks at a Storage Depot. . . 413 

View in an Oil Region 414 

Bits for Drilling Wells 415 

A Spouting Well 416 

Derrick and Tanks in the American Oil 

Region 417 

An Oil Refinery with Tank Cars 419 

Tartar Camel-cart at Baku 420 

Ancient Mound near the Caspian Sea 421 

Curious Rock Formations 422 

Modern Fire-worshippers — Parsee Lady and 

Daughter 423 

A Burning Tank 425 

A Fall in Oil 426 

A Rise in Oil .426 

Camp Scene near the Altai Mountains 429 

A Kalmuck Priest. 430 

Scene on the Edge of the Kirghese Steppe. . 431 

Kirghese Group 432 

Kirghese Chief and Family 433 

Caravan in Russian Territory 434 

Kirghese Raid on a Hostile Tribe 436 

Lasgird — A Fortified Village in Northern 

Persia 438 

Tower of Refuge 439 

Framework of Turcoman Tent 440 

The Tent Covered 440 

Interior of Tent 441 

Vambery's Reception by Turcoman Chief on 



PAGE 

Receiving Payment for Human Heads — 

Khiva . 443 

Turcoman Trophy — A Russian Head 445 

Kokburi — A Race for a Bride 447 

View of the Citadel of Khiva 448 

An OzbekHead 449 

Map showing the Relations of Russia and 

England in the East 451 

Sand-storm in the Desert 452 

Turcoman Court of Justice 453 

Kirghese Tomb 454 

Charge of Russian Cavalry against Turco- 
mans 455 

Russian Army on the Turcoman Steppes. . . 457 

Winter Camp in Turcomania 459 

Turcoman Irrigating Wheel 460 

Scene at a Ferry on the Oxus 461 

Map of the Russo- Afghan" Region 462 

Turcoman Woman Spinning 464 

Village of Turcoman Tents 465 

The New Russo- Afghan Frontier 466 

Old Sarakhs 468 

Sarik Turcomau Woman 469 

Pul-i-Khisti andAkTapa 470 

Penjdeh 471 

Colonel Alikhanoff . . . 472 

The Great Highway of Central Asia 473 

Turcoman Farm-yard 475 

Map of Turkestan, showing Route of Trans- 
Caspian Railway 476 

Crossing a River in Central Asia 478 

A Native Traveller 479 

Looking down on the Steppe 481 

View of Tiflis 483 

The Pass of Dariel, Caucasus 485 

Governor-general of the Caucasus 486 

Ruined Fortress in the Caucasus 487 

Ruined Church near Batoum 488 

Quarantine Harbor, Trebizond 489 

View of Erzeroom 490 

Turkish Authority 492 

View of Sebastopol 495 

Ruins of the Malakoff, Sebastopol 496 

Russian Carpenters at Work 498 

Cossacks and Chasseurs 499 

British Soldiers in Camp 501 

Alfred Tennyson 502 

A Broken Tarantasse 503 



the Caspian Shore 442 I The Bosporus 504 

Map to accompany the Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire Front Cover. 

Map showing the Russian Empire Routes as Described by the Boy Travellers. Back Cover. 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS 

IN THE 

RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



CHAPTER I. 

DEPARTURE FROM VIENNA. — FRANK'S LETTER. — A FAREWELL PROMENADE. — 
FROM VIENNA TO CRACOW. — THE GREAT SALT-MINE OF WIELICZKA, AND 
WHAT WAS SEEN THERE. — CHURCHES AND PALACES UNDERGROUND. — VOY- 
AGE ON A SUBTERRANEAN LAKE. 

" TT ERE are the passports at last." 

J- J- " Are you sure they are quite in 
order for our journey V 

" Yes, entirely so," was the reply ; " the 
Secretary of Legation examined them care- 
fully, and said we should have no trouble at 
the frontier." 

"Well, then," a cheery voice responded, 
" we have nothing more to do until the depart- 
ure of the train. Five minutes will complete 
the packing of our baggage, and the hotel bill 
fred's reminder. i s a ll settled. I am going for a walk through 

the Graben, and will be back in an hour." 
So saying, our old acquaintance, Doctor Bronson, left his room in the 
Grand Hotel in Vienna and disappeared down the stairway. He was 
followed, a few minutes later, by his nephew, Fred Bronson, who had 
just returned from a promenade, during "which he had visited the Ameri- 
can Legation to obtain the passports which were the subject of the dia- 
logue just recorded. 

At the door of the hotel he was joined by his cousin, Frank Bassett. 
The latter proposed a farewell visit to the Church of St. Stephen, and 




16 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



also a short stroll in the Graben, 
where he wished to make a tri- 
fling purchase. Fred assented, 
and they started at once. 

They had not gone far before 
Fred perceived at a window the 
face of a girl busily engaged in 
writing. He paused a moment, 
and then suggested to Frank that 
he wished to return to the hotel 
in time to write a letter to his 
sister before the closing of the 
mail. " I really believe," said he, 
"that I should have neglected 
Mary this week if I had not been 
reminded by that girl in the win- 
dow and her occupation." 

Frank laughed as he rejoined 
that he had never yet known his 
cousin to forget his duty, and it 




st. Stephen's cathedral, Vienna. 



FAREWELL VIEW OF VIENNA. 



IT 



would Lave been pretty sure to occur to him that he owed his sister a 
letter before it was too late for writing it. 

They made a hasty visit to the church, which is by far the finest relig- 
ious edifice in Vienna, and may be said to stand in the very heart of the 
city. Fred had previously made a note of the fact that the church is 
more than seven hundred years old, and has been rebuilt, altered, and en- 
larged so many times that not much of the original structure remains. 
On the first day of their stay in Vienna the youths had climbed to the top 
of the building and ascended the spire, from which they had a magnificent 




YIEW OF THE PALACE OF CRACOW. 



view of the city and the country which surrounds it. The windings of 
the Danube are visible for many miles, and there are guides ready at hand 
to point out the battle-fields of Wagram, Lobau, and Essling. Our young 
friends had a good-natured discussion about the height of the spire of St. 
Stephen's ; Frank claimed that his guide-book gave the distance from the 
ground to the top of the cross four hundred and fifty-three feet, while 
Fred contended, on the authority of another guide-book, that it was four 
hundred and sixty -five feet. Authorities differ considerably as to the 

2 



18 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

exact height of this famous spire, which does not appear to have received 
a careful measurement for a good many years. 

From the church the youths went to the Graben, the famous street 
where idlers love to congregate on pleasant afternoons, and then they re- 
turned to the hotel. Fred devoted 
himself to the promised letter to his 
sister. With his permission we will 
look over his shoulder as he writes, 
and from the closing paragraph learn 
the present destination of our old 
friends with whom we have travelled 
in other lands.* 

" We have been here a week, and 
like Yienna very much, but are quite 
willing to leave the city for the in- 
teresting tour we have planned. We 
start this evening by the Northern 
Eailway for a journey to and through 
Eussia ; our first stopping-place will 
be at the nearest point on the rail- 
way for reaching the famous salt-mines of Wieliczka. You must pro- 
nounce it We-^A-ka,with the accent on the second syllable. Til write 
you from there ; or, if I don't have time to do so at the mines, will send 
you a letter from the first city where we stop for more than a single 
day. We have just had our passports indorsed by the Eussian minister 
for Austria— a very necessary proceeding, as it is impossible to get into 
Eussia without these documents. Until I next write you, good-by." 

The travellers arrived at the great Northern Eailway station of 
Yienna in ample season to take their tickets and attend to the regis- 
tration of their baggage. The train carried them swiftly to Cracow— a 
city which has had a prominent place in Polish annals. It was the scene 
of several battles, and was for a long time the capital of the ancient king- 
dom of Poland. Frank made the following memoranda in his note- 
book : 

« Cracow is a city of about fifty thousand inhabitants, of whom nearly 




KOSCIUSKO, 1777. 



* "The Boy Travellers in the Far East" (five volumes) and "The Boy Travellers in 
South America " (one volume). Adventures of Two Youths in a J ourney to and through 
Japan, China, Siam, Java, Ceylon, India, Egypt, Palestine, Central Africa, Peru, Bolivia, 
Chili, Brazil, and the Argentine Republic. New York. Harper & Brothers. 



SIGHTS IN CRACOW. 



19 



one-third are Israelites. It stands on the left bank of the Vistula, on a 
beautiful plain surrounded by hills which rise in the form of an amphi- 
theatre. In the old part of the city the streets are narrow and dark, and 
cannot be praised for their cleanliness ; but the new part, which lies out- 
side the ancient defences, is quite attractive. The palace is on the bank 
of the river, and was once very pretty. The Austrians have converted it 
into a military barrack, after strip- 
ping it of all its ornaments, so that 
it is now hardly worth seeing. 
There are many fine churches in 
Cracow, but we have only had time 
to visit one of them — the cathe- 
dral. 

" In the cathedral we saw the 
tombs of many of the men whose 
names are famous in Polish his- 
tory. Polish kings and queens al- 
most by the dozen are buried here, 
and there is a fine monument to the 
memory of St. Stanislaus. His re- 
mains are preserved in a silver 
coffin, and are the object of rever- 
ence on the part of those who still 
dream of the ultimate liberation of 
Poland, and its restoration to its old 
place among the kingdoms of the 
world. 

"We drove around the princi- 
pal streets of Cracow, and then out to the tumulus erected to the mem- 
ory of the Polish patriot. Kosciusko. You remember the lines in our 
school reader, 

" ' Hope for a season bade the world farewell, 
And freedom shrieked as Kosciusko fell.' 

" We were particularly desirous to see this mound. It was made of 
earth brought from all the patriotic battle-fields of Poland at an enormous 
expense, which was largely borne by the people of Cracow. The monu- 
ment is altogether one hundred and fifty feet high, and is just inside the 
line of fortifications which have been erected around the city. The Aus- 
trians say these fortifications are intended to keep out the Knssians ; but 




KOSCIUSKO, 1817. 



20 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

it is inst as likely that they are intended to keep the Poles from making 
one of the insurrections for which they have shown so great an incli- 
nation during the past two or three centuries _ 

« As we contemplated the monument to the famous soldier of Poland, 
we remembered his services during our Revolutionary war. Kosciusko 
entered the American army in 1776 as an officer of engineers, and re- 
mained with General Washington until the close of the war He planned 
the fortified camp near Saratoga, and also the works a West Pomt. 
When our independence was achieved he returned to Poland, and after 
fighting for several years in the cause of his country, he made a brief visit 
to America, where he received much distinction Then he returned again 
to Europe lived for a time in France, and afterwards m Switzerland, 




CHURCH OF ST. MARY, CRACOW. 

where he died in 1817. The monument we have just visited does not 
cover his grave, as he was buried with much ceremony in the Cathedral 

of Cracow." „ 

"Why don't you say something about the Jewish quarter ot Cracow, 
said Fred, when Frank read what he had written, and which we have 
given above. 

« I'll leave that for you," was the reply. " You may write the descrip- 
tion while I make some sketches." 



THE JEWS' QUARTER IN CRACOW. 



21 



" I'm agreed," responded Fred. " Let's go over the ground together 
and pick out what is the most interesting." 

Away they went, leaving Doctor Bronson with a gentleman with whom 
he had formed an acquaintance during their ride from the railway to the 
hotel. The Doctor was not partial to a walk in the Jews' quarter, and 
said he was willing to take his knowledge of it at second-hand. 

On their way thither the youths stopped a few minutes to look at the 
Church of St. Mary, which was built in 1276, and is regarded as a fine 
specimen of Gothic architecture. It is at one side of the market-place, 
and presents a picturesque appear- 
ance as the beholder stands in 
front of it. 

The Jews' quarter is on the op- 
posite side of the river from the 
principal part of the city, and is 
reached by a bridge over the Vis- 
tula. At every step the youths 
were beset by beggars. They had 
taken a guide from the hotel, un- 
der the stipulation that he should 
not permit the beggars to annoy 
them, but they soon found it would 
be impossible to secure immunity 
from attack without a cordon of 
at least a dozen guides. Frank 
pronounced the beggars of Cracow 
the most forlorn he had ever seen, 
and Fred thought they were more 
numerous in proportion to the 
population than in any other city, 
with the possible exception of 
Naples. Their ragged and starved 
condition indicated that their distress was real, and more than once our 
young friends regretted having brought themselves face to face with so 
much misery that they were powerless to relieve. 

Frank remarked that there was a similarity of dress among the Jews 
of Cracow, as they all wore long caftans, or robes, reaching nearly to the 
heels. The wealthy Jews wear robes of silk, with fur caps or turbans, 
while the poorer ones must content themselves with cheaper material, 
according to their ability. The guide told the youths that the men of 




POLISH JEW OF HIGH RANK. 



22 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

rank would not surround their waists with girdles as did the humbler 
Jews, and that sometimes the robes of the rieh were lined with sable, at a 
cost of many hundreds of dollars. 

Fred carefully noted the information obtained while Frank made the 
.ketches he had promised to produce. They are by no means unlike the 




POLISH JEWS OF THE MIDDLE CLASS. 



sketches that were made by another American traveller (Mr. J. Boss 
Browne), who visited Cracow several years before the journey of our 

friends. ., . ... „ 

" But there's one thing we can't sketch, and can't describe in writing, 
said Fred, "and that's the dirt in the streets of this Jews' quarter of Cra- 
cow If Doctor Bronson knew of it I don't wonder he declined to come 



GOING TO THE SALT-MINES. 



23 



with us. No attempt is made to keep the place clean, and it seems a pity 
that the authorities do not force the people into better ways. It's as bad 
as any part of Canton or Peking, and that's saying a great deal. I won- 
der they don't die of cholera, and leave the place without inhabitants." 

In spite of all sorts of oppression, the Jews of Cracow preserve their 
distinctiveness, and there are no more devout religionists in the world 
than this people. The greater part of the commerce of the city is in 
their hands, and they are said to have a vast amount of wealth in their 
possession. That they have a large share of business was noticed by Fred, 
who said that from the moment they alighted from the train at the rail- 
way-station they were pestered by peddlers, guides, money-changers, run- 
ners for shops, beggars, and all sorts of importunate people from the quar- 
ter of the city over the Vistula. An hour in the Jews' quarter gratified 
their curiosity, and they returned to the hotel. 

There is a line of railway to the salt-mines, but our friends preferred 
to go in a carriage, as it would afford a better view of the country, and 
enable them to arrange the time to 
suit themselves. The distance is 
about nine miles, and the road is 
well kept, so that they reached the 
mines in little more than an hour 
from the time of leaving the ho- 
tel. The road is through an undu- 
lating country, which is prettily dot- 
ted with farms, together with the 
summer residences of some of the 
wealthier inhabitants of Cracow. 

On reaching the mines they 
went immediately to the offices, 
where it was necessary to obtain 
permission to descend into the 
earth. These offices are in an old 
castle formerly belonging to one of 
the native princes, but long ago 
turned into its present practical 
uses. Our friends were accom- 
panied by a commissioner from the 
hotel where they were lodged in 
Cracow ; he was a dignified individual, who claimed descent from one of 
the noble families of Poland, and the solemnity of his visage was increased 




OUR GUIDE IN COSTUME 



24 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

by a Luge pair of spectacles that spanned las nose. Frank remarked that 
spectacles were in fashion at Wieliczka, as at least half the officrab con- 
nected with the management of the salt-mines were ornamented with 

these aids to vision. . . , 

A spectacled clerk entered the names of the visitors m a register kept 
for the purpose, and issued the tickets permitting them to enter the 
mines. Armed with their tickets, 
they were conducted to a building 
close to the entrance of one of the 
mines, and ushered into the pres- 
ence of the inspector-general of the 
works. He was also a wearer of spec- 
tacles, and the rotundity of his fig- 
ure indicated that the air and food 
of the place had not injured him. 
" The inspector-general received 

us politely— in fact everybody about 

the place was polite enough for the 

most fastidious taste," said Frank in 

his note -book— "and after a short 

conversation he called our attention 

to the robes which had been worn 

by imperial and royal visitors to 

the mines. The robes are richly 

embroidered, and every one bears 

a label telling when and by whom 

it was worn. The inspector-general 

treated the garments with almost as 

much reverence as he would have shown to the personages named on the 
labels. We realized that it was proper to regard them with respect, if we 
wished to have the good-will of this important official, and therefore we 
appeared to be dumb with amazement as he went through the list. When 
the examination was ended we were provided with garments for the de- 
scent. Evidently we were not regarded with the same awe as were the 
kings and emperors that had preceded us, as our robes were of a very 
common sort. They were like dressing-gowns, and reached nearly to our 
heels, and our heads were covered with small woollen caps. I do not be- 
lieve they were labelled with our names and kept in glass cases after our 
departure. 

"I made a sketch of our guide after he was arrayed in his under- 




THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL. 



DESCENDING THE SHAFT. 



25 



ground costume and ready to start. Fred sketched the inspector-general 
while the latter was talking to the Doctor. The portrait isn't a bad one, 
but I think he has exaggerated somewhat the rotund figure of the affable 
official. 

" From the office we went to the entrance of one of the shafts. It is 
in a large building, which contains the hoisting apparatus, and is also used 
as a storehouse. Sacks and barrels of salt were piled there awaiting trans- 
portation to market, and in front of the building there were half a dozen 
wagons receiving the loads which they were to take to the railway-station. 
The hoisting apparatus is an enormous wheel turned by horse-power ; the 
horses walk around in a circle, as in the old-fashioned cider-mill of the 
Northern States, or the primitive cotton-gin of the South. Our guide 
said there were more than twenty of these shafts, and there was also a 
stairway, cut in the solid earth and salt, extending to the bottom of the 
mine. We had proposed to descend by the stairway, but the commis- 
sioner strenuously advised against our doing so. He said the way was 
dark and the steps were slippery, as they were wet in many places from 
the water trickling through the earth. His arguments appeared reason- 
able, and so we went by the shaft. 

' " The rope winds around a drum on the shaft supporting the wheel, 
and then passes through a pulley directly over the place where we were 
to descend. The rope is fully two inches in diameter, and was said to be 
capable of bearing ten times the weight that can ever be placed upon 
it in ordinary use. It is examined every morning, and at least once a 
week it is tested with a load of at least four times that which it ordi- 
narily carries. When it shows any sign of wear it is renewed ; and 
judging from all we could see, the managers take every precaution against 
accidents. 

" Smaller ropes attached to the main one have seats at the ends. There 
are two clusters of these ropes, about twenty feet apart, the lower one 
being intended for the guides and lamp-bearers, and the upper for visitors 
and ofificials. Six of us were seated in the upper group. It included our 
party of four and two subordinate officials, who accompanied us on our 
journey and received fees on our return ; but I suppose they would scorn 
to be called guides. 

" There is a heavy trap-door over the mouth of the shaft, and the 
rope plays freely through it. The guides and lamp-bearers took their 
places at the end of the rope; then the door was opened and they were 
lowered down, and the door closed above them. This brought the upper 
cluster of ropes in position for us to take our places, which we did under 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 




THE SHAFT. 



the direction of the officials who accompanied us. "When 
all was ready the signal was given, the trap -door was 
opened once more, and we began our downward journey 

into the earth. 

« As the trap - door closed above us, I confess to a 
rather uncanny feeling. Below us gleamed the lights in 
the hands of the lamp - bearers, but above there was a 
darkness that seemed as though it might be felt, or 
sliced off with a knife. Nobody spoke, and the attention 
of all seemed to be directed to hanging on to the rope. 
Of course the uppermost question in everybody's mind 
was, 'What if the rope should break?' It doesn't take 
long to answer it ; the individuals hanging in that cluster 
below the gloomy trap-door would be of very little con- 
sequence in a terrestrial way after the snapping of the 
rope. 

u We compared notes afterwards, and found that our 
sensations were pretty much alike. The general feeling 
was one of uncertainty, and each one asked himself sev- 
eral times whether he was asleep or awake. Fred said a 
part of the journey was like a nightmare, and the Doc- 
tor said he had the same idea, especially after the noise 
of the machinery was lost in the distance and everything 
was in utter silence. For the first few moments we 
could bear the whirring of the wheel and the jar of the 
machinery ; but very soon these sounds disappeared, and 



SANITARY CONDITIONS UNDERGROUND. 



27 



we glided gently downward, without the least sensation of being in mo- 
tion" It seemed to me not that we were descending, but that the walls 
of the shaft were rising around us, while our position was stationary. 

" Contrary to expectation, we found the air quite agreeable. The offi- 
cial who accompanied us said it was peculiarly conducive to health ; and 
many of the employes of the mines had been at work there forty or fifty 




years, and had never lost a day from illness. We had supposed it would 
be damp and cold, but, on the contrary, found it dry and of an agreea- 
ble temperature, which remains nearly the same all through the year. No 
doubt the salt has much to do with this healthy condition. Occasionally 



28 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

hydrogen gas collects in some of the shafts which are not properly venti- 
lated, and there have been explosions of fire-damp which destroyed a good 
many lives. These accidents were the result of carelessness either of the 





LAMP-BEARERS. 



miners or their superintendents, and since their occurrence a more rigid 
system of inspection has been established. 

"We stopped at the bottom of the shaft, which is about three hundred 
feet deep ; there we were released from our fastenings and allowed to use 
our feet again. Then we were guided through a perfect labyrinth of pas- 
sages, up and down ladders, along narrow paths, into halls spacious enough 
for the reception of an emperor, and again into little nooks where men 



A SUBTERRANEAN CITY. 



29 



were occupied in excavating the salt. For several hours Ave wandered 
there, losing all knowledge of the points of compass, and if we had been 
left to ourselves our chances of emerging again into daylight would have 
been utterly hopeless. 

"And here let me give you a few figures about the salt-mines of 
Wieliczka. I cannot promise that they are entirely accurate, but they are 
drawn from the best sources within our reach. Some were obtained from 
the under-officials of the mines who accompanied us, and others are taken 
from the work of previous writers on this subject. 

" The salt-mine may be fairly regarded as a city under the surface of 
the earth, as it shelters about a thousand workmen, and contains chapels, 
churches, railways, stables, and other appurtenances of a place where men 
dwell. In fact it is a series of cities, one above the other, as there are 
four tiers of excavations, the first 
being about two hundred feet below 
the surface, and the lowest nearly 
two thousand. The subterranean 
passages and halls are named after 
various kings and emperors who 
have visited them, or who were fa- 
mous at the time the passages were 
opened, and altogether they cover 
an area of several square miles. In 
a general way the salt - mines of 
Wieliczka may be said to be near- 
ly two miles square ; but the ends 
of some of the passages are more 
than two miles from the entrance 
of the nearest shaft. The entire 
town of Wieliczka lies above the 
mines which give occupation to its 
inhabitants. 

"There is probably more tim- 
ber beneath the surface at Wie- 
liczka than above it, as the roofs 
of the numerous passages are sup- 
ported by heavy beams ; and the same is the case with the smaller halls. 
In the larger halls such support would be insufficient, and immense col- 
umns of salt are left in position. In several instances these pillars of 
salt have been replaced by columns of brick or stone, as they would be 




80 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

liable to be melted away during any accidental flooding of the mine, 
and allow the entire upper strata to tumble in. This has actually hap- 
pened on one occasion, when a part of the mine was flooded and serious 
damage resulted. 

" Our guide said the length of the passages, galleries, and halls was 
nearly four hundred English miles, and the greatest depth reached was 
two thousand four hundred feet. If we should visit all the galleries and 
passages, and examine every object of interest in the mines, we should be 
detained there at least three weeks. Not a single one of all the workmen 
had been in every part of all the galleries of the mine, and he doubted if 
there was any officer attached to the concern who would not be liable to 
be lost if left to himself. 

"Nobody knows when these mines were discovered; they were worked 
in the eleventh century, when they belonged to the kingdom of Poland, 
and an important revenue was derived from them. In the fourteenth 
century Casimir the Great established elaborate regulations for working 
the mines, and his regulations are the basis of those which are still in 
force, in spite of numerous changes. In 1656 they were pledged to Aus- 
tria, but were redeemed by John Sobieski in 1683. When the first par- 
tition of Poland took place, in 1772, they were handed over to Austria, 
which has had possession of them ever since, with the exception of the 
short period from 1809 to 1815. 

" While the mines belonged to Poland the kings of that country ob- 
tained a large revenue from them. For two or three centuries this revenue 
was sufficiently large to serve for the endowment of convents and the 
dowries of the members of the royal family. The Austrian Government 
has obtained a considerable revenue from these mines, but owing to the 
modern competition with salt from other sources, it does not equal the 
profit of the Polish kings. 

" Except when reduced by accidents or other causes, the annual pro- 
duction of salt in these mines is about two hundred millions of pounds, or 
one hundred thousand tons. The deposit is known to extend a long dis- 
tance, and the Government might, if it wished, increase the production to 
any desired amount. But it does not consider it judicious to do so, and is 
content to keep the figures about where they have been since the begin- 
ning of the century. The salt supplies a considerable area of country ; 
a large amount, usually of the lower grades, is sent into Kussia, and the 
finer qualities are shipped to various parts of the Austrian Empire. 

" We asked if the workmen lived in the mines, as was currently re- 
ported, and were told they did not. ' They would not be allowed to do 



SALT -MINERS AT WORK. 



31 



so, even if they wished it,' said our guide. ' By the rules of the direction 
the men are divided into gangs, working eight hours each, and all are re- 
quired to go to the surface when not on duty. In ancient times it was 
doubtless the case that men lived here with their families. At one time 




AN UNDERGROUND CHAPEL. 



the mines were worked by prisoners, who did not see daylight for months 
together, but nothing of the kind has occurred for more than a cen- 
tury at least.' 

" Several times in our walk we came upon little groups of men work- 
ing in the galleries; and certainly they were not to be envied. Some- 
times they were cutting with picks against perpendicular walls, and at 
others they were lying flat on their backs, digging away at the roof not 



32 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



more than a foot or two above their heads. The shaggy lamp-bearers— 
generally old men unable to perform heavy work— stood close at hand, 
and the glare of the light falling upon the flashing crystals of salt that 
flew in the air, and covered the half-naked bodies of the perspiring work- 
men, made a picture which I cannot adequately describe. I do not know 
that I ever looked upon a spectacle more weird than this. 

« We had expected to see the men in large gangs, but found that they 




MEN CUTTING SALT IN THE MINE. 



were nearly always divided into little groups. One would think they 
would prefer any other kind of occupation than this, but our guide told 
us that the laborers w T ere perfectly free to leave at any time, just as 
though they were in the employ of a private establishment. There were 
plenty of men who would gladly fill their places, and frequently they had 
applications for years in advance. As prices go in Austria, the pay is 
very good, the men averaging from twenty to fifty cents a day. As far 
as possible they are paid by the piece, and not by time— the same as in 
the great majority of mines all over the world. 

" But the horses which draw the cars on the subterranean railways are 



UNDERGROUND HALLS. 



38 



not regarded with the same care as the men. They never return to the 
light of day after once being lowered into the mine. In a few weeks 
after arriving there a cataract covers their eyes and the sight disap- 
pears. By some this result is attributed to the perpetual darkness, and 
by others to the effect of the salt. It is probably due to the former, as 
the workmen do not appear to suffer in the same way. Whether they 
would become blind if continually kept there is not known, and it is to 
^be hoped that no cruel overseer will endeavor to ascertain by a practical 
trial. 

" Every time we came upon a group of workmen they paused in their 
labors and begged for money. We had provided ourselves with an abun- 
dance of copper coins before descending into the mine, and it was well we 
did so, as they generally became clamorous until obtaining what they 
wanted. Fortunately they were satisfied with a small coin, and did not 
annoy us after once being paid. 

" I cannot begin to give the names of all the halls, galleries, and pas- 
sages we went through, and if I did, it would be tedious. We wandered 
up and down, down and up, forward and backward, until it seemed as if 
there was no end to the journey. And to think we might have been 
there three weeks without once repeating our steps ! I will mention at 
random some of the most interesting of the things we saw. To tell the 




FINISHING THE COLUMNS. 



whole story and give a full description of this most wonderful salt-mine 
in the world would require a volume. 

" The chamber of Michel wic was the first of the large halls that we 
entered, and was reached after a long journey through winding passages 
and along foot-paths that sometimes overhung places where it was impos- 
sible for the eye, aided only by the light of the lamps, to ascertain the 

3 



34 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



depth of the openings below. In some of the dangerous places there was 
a rail to prevent one from falling over ; but this was not always the case, 
and you may be sure we kept on the safe side and close to the wall. 

« I n the hall we were treated to a song by one of the mining over- 
seers, an old soldier who had lost an arm in some way that was not ex- 
plained to us. He had an excellent voice that ought to have secured him 
a good place in the chorus of an opera troupe. He sang a mining song 
in quite a melodramatic style; and as he did so the notes echoed and re- 
echoed through the hall till it seemed they would never cease. In the 
centre of the hall is a chandelier cut from the solid salt, and on grand oc- 





SUBTKRRANEAN STABLES. 



casions this chandelier is lighted and a band of music is stationed at one 
end of the vast space. Its effect is said to be something beyond descrip- 
tion, and, judging from the effect of the overseer's voice, I can well be- 
lieve it. 

« From this hall we went through a series of chambers and galleries 
named after the royal and imperial families of Poland and Austria, pass- 
ing chapels, shrines, altars, and other things indicating the religious char- 
acter of the people employed in the mines or controlling them, together 



SUBTERRANEAN FIREWORKS. 



35 



witli many niches containing statu es of kings, saints, and martyrs, all hewn 
from the solid salt. Some of the statues are rudely made, but the most 
of them are well designed and executed. In some of the chapels wor- 
shippers were kneeling before the altars, and it was difficult to realize that 
we were hundreds of feet below the surface of the earth. 

"By-and-by our guide said we were coming to the Infernal Lake. 
The lamp-bearers held their lights high in the air, and we could see the 
reflection from a sheet of water, but how great might be its extent was 
impossible to guess. As we approached the edge of the water a boat 
emerged from the gloom and came towards us. It was a sort of rope 
ferry, and we immediately thought 
of the ferry-boat which the an- 
cients believed was employed to 
carry departed spirits across the 
river Styx. Certainly the darkness 
all around was Stygian, and the 
men on the boat might have been 
Charon's attendants. 

" We passed down a few steps, 
entered the boat, and were pulled 
away from shore. In less than a 
minute nothing but the little circle 
of water around us was visible ; the 
sides of the cavern echoed our 
voices and every other sound that 
came from our boat. In the mid- 
dle of the lake we paused to ob- 
serve the effect of the sound caused 
by the waves created by the rock- 
ing of the boat, It reverberated 
through the cavern and away into 
the galleries, and seemed as though 
it would last forever. When this 
sensation was exhausted we moved on again. Doctor Bronson asked the 
guide how far it was to the other end of the lake, but before the answer 
was spoken we had a fresh surprise. 

" There was a flash of light from a point high above us, and almost at 
the same instant another, a little distance ahead. The latter assumed the 
form of an arch in red fire, displaying the greeting < Gluck-auf !' or 6 Good- 
luck!' though this is not the literal translation. We passed under this 




36 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 




" GLUCK-AUF !" 



arch of red fire, and as we did so the words ' Gliick-auf ! Gliick-auf !' were 
shouted from all around, and at the same time flashes of fire burst from a 
dozen places above the lake. We shouted ' Gliick-auf !' in reply, and then 
the voices from the mysterious recesses seemed to be quadrupled in num- 
ber and volume. The air was filled with flashes of light, and was every- 
where resonant with the words of the miners' welcome. 

" At the other end of the lake there was a considerable party waiting 
to receive us, and of course there was a liberal distribution of coin to ev- 
erybody. I ought to have said at the outset that we arranged to pay for 



FESTIVAL IN THE MINE. 



37 



the illumination of the lake and also of certain specified halls, in addition 
to the compensation of the guides. The illuminations are entirely pro- 
portioned to the amount that the visitors are willing to give for them. It 
is a good plan to unite with other visitors, and then the individual cost 
will not be heavy. Twenty dollars will pay for a very good illumination, 
and fifty dollars will secure something worthy of a prince, though not a 
first-class one. 

" They showed ns next through more winding passages, and came at 
length to the Grand Saloon of Entertainment ; which is of immense ex- 




FETE JX THE GRAND SALOON OF ENTERTAINMENT. 



tent, and has no less than six large chandeliers hanging from the roof. It 
is lighted on the occasion of the visit of a king or emperor (of course he 



38 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



has to pay the bill), and the effect is said to be wonderful. There is an 
alcove at one end, with a throne of green and ruby-colored salt, whereon 
the emperor is seated, A blaze of light all through the hall is reflected 

from the myriad crystals of salt 
which form the roof and sides ; the 
floor is strewn with sparkling salt ; 
the columns are decorated with ev- 
ergreens; festoons of flags abound 
through the place; and a band of 
music plays the airs appropriate to 
the hall and the guest. 

" The workmen and their fam- 
ilies assemble in their holiday dress, 
and when the music begins the 
whole party indulges in the Polish 
national dance. It is a strange 
spectacle, this scene of revelry five 
hundred feet below the surface of 
the earth, and probably among the 
sights that do not come often before 
the Imperial eyes. These spectacles 
must be arranged to order, and for 
weeks before an Imperial or Eoyal 
visit a great many hands are en- 
gaged in making the necessary prep- 
arations. From all I heard of these 
festivals, I would willingly travel many hundred miles to see one of 
them. 

" By means of the illuminating materials that we brought with us, we 
were able to get an approximate idea of the character of one of these gala 
spectacles. After our last Bengal -light had been burned, we continued 
our journey, descending to the third story by many devious ways, and 
finally halting in a chamber whose roof was not less than a hundred feet 
above us. 

" 'Do you know where you are?' said our guide. 
" Of course we answered that we did not. 

" ' Well,' said he, 'you are directly beneath the lake which we sailed 
over in a boat a little while ago. If it should break through we should all 
be drowned, dead.' 

" We shuddered to think what might be our fate if the lake should 




A RETIRED DIRECTOR. 



CHARACTER OF THE MINERAL SALT. 



39 



spring a leak. It did break out at one time and flooded many of the gal- 
leries, and for a long while work in all the lower part of the mine was 
suspended. There have been several fires, some of them causing the loss 
of many lives ; but, on the whole, considering the long time the mine has 
been opened and the extent of the works, the accidents have been few. 

"The deepest excavation in the mine is nearly seven hundred feet 
below the level of the sea. We did not go there, in fact we did not go 
below the third story, as we had seen quite enough for our purposes, and 
besides we had only a limited time to stay in the mine. As we came up 
again to daylight, hoisted in the same sort of chairs as those by which we 
descended, we made a final inspection of the salt which comes from the 
mine. 

" ' There are three kinds of salt,' said the guide. ' One that is called 
green salt contains five or six per cent, of clay, and has no transparency ; 
it is cut into blocks and sent to Russia exactly as it comes from the mine. 
The second quality is called spiza, and is crystalline and mixed with sand ; 
and the third is in large masses, perfectly transparent, having no earthy 
matter mingled with it. The salt is found in compact tertiary clays that 
contain a good many fossils ; the finest salt is at the lowest levels, and the 
poorest at the higher ones.' 

" Well, here we are at the top of the shaft, tired and hungry, and ex- 
cited with the wonderful things we have seen. The visit to the salt-mines 
of Wieliczka is something to be long remembered." 

Since the visit herein described, the manner of working the salt-mines 
of Wieliczka has undergone a decided change. Owing to the influx of a 
stream the lower levels of the mines were flooded, and for some time re- 
mained full of water. In order to free them it was necessary to introduce 
powerful pumping machinery of the latest designs, and also to replace the 
old hoisting apparatus with new. Horse-power was abandoned in favor 
of steam, both for hoisting and pumping ; new precautions were taken 
against fire ; all improved systems of mine-working were tested, and those 
which proved useful were adopted ; and to-day the mines of Wieliczka 
may be considered, in every respect, the foremost salt-mines in the world. 



40 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



CHAPTER II. 

LEAVING CRACOW. — THE RUSSIAN FRONTIER. — THE POLICE AND THE CUSTOM- 
HOUSE. — RUSSIAN CENSORSHIP OF BOOKS AND PAPERS— CATCHING A SMUG- 
GLER.— FROM THE FRONTIER TO WARSAW. — SIGHTS AND INCIDENTS IN THE 
CAPITAL OF POLAND.— FROM WARSAW TO ST. PETERSBURG. 

THE sun was setting as our friends readied Cracow, on their return 
from Wieliczka. The walls of the city were gilded by the rays of 
light that streamed over the hills which formed the western horizon. In 
all its features the scene was well calculated to impress the youthful trav- 
ellers. Frank wished to make a sketch of the gate-way through which 
they passed on their entrance within the walls, but the hour was late and 




OUTER WALL OP CRACOW. 



ENTERING RUSSIA. 



41 



delay inadvisable. The commissioner said he would bring them a photo- 
graph of the spot, and with this consolation the young man dismissed from 
his mind the idea of the sketch. 

All retired early, as they intended taking the morning train for the 
Russian frontier, and thence to Warsaw. They were up in good season, 
and at the appointed time the train carried them out of the ancient capi- 
tal of Poland. 

At Granitsa, the frontier station, they had a halt of nearly two hours. 
Their passports were carefully examined by the Russian officials, while 
their trunks underwent a vigorous overhauling. The passports proved to 
be entirely in order, and there was no trouble with them. The officials 
were particularly polite to the American trio, and said they were always 
pleased to welcome Americans to the Empire. They were less courteous 
to an Englishman who arrived by the same train, and the Doctor said it 
was evident that the Crimean war 
had not been entirely forgotten. 
Several passengers had neglected 
the precautions which our friends 
observed at Vienna, in securing the 
proper indorsement to their pass- 
ports, and were told that they could 
not pass the frontier. They were 
compelled to wait until the pass- 
ports could be sent to Cracow for 
approval by the Russian consul at 
that point, or else to Vienna. A 
commissioner attached to the rail- 
way-station offered to attend to the 
matter for all who required his 
aid ; formerly it was necessary for 
the careless traveller to return in 
person to the point designated, but 
of late years this has not been re- 
quired. 

" This passport business is an 
outrageous humbug," said the Eng- 
lishman with whom our friends had fallen into conversation while they 
were waiting in the anteroom of the passport office. " Its object is to keep 
improper persons out of Russia ; but it does nothing of the kind. Any 
Nihilist, Revolutionist, or other objectionable individual can always obtain 




42 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



a passport under a fictitious name, and secure the necessary approval of 
consuls or ambassadors. Ivan Carlo vitch, for whom the police are on the 
watch, comes here with a passport in the name of Joseph Cassini, a native 
of Malta, and subject of Great Britain. His English passport is obtained 
easily enough by a little false swearing ; it is approved by the Eussian 
minister at Vienna, and the fellow enters Eussia with perfect ease. The 
honest traveller who has neglected the formality through ignorance is de- 
tained, while the Eevolutionist goes on 
his way contented. The Eevolutionist 
always knows the technicalities of the 
law, and is careful to observe them ; and 
it is safe to say that the passport system 
never prevented any political offender 
from getting into Eussia when he 
wanted to go there. 

" I have been in Eussia before," he- 
continued, a and know what I am say- 
ino\ The first time I went there was 
from Berlin, and on reaching the fron- 
tier I was stopped because my passport 

PASSPORT NOT CORRECT. x x it 1 

was not properly indorsed. 1 supposed 
I would have to go back to Berlin, but the station-master said I need not 
take that trouble ; I could stop at the hotel, and he would arrange the 
whole matter, so that I might proceed exactly twenty-four hours later. I 
did as he told me, and it was all right." 
" How was it accomplished 2" 

« Why, he took my passport and a dozen others whose owners were in 
the same fix as myself, and sent them by the conductor of the train to 
Koenigsburg, where there is a Eussian consul. For a fee of two English 
shillings (fifty cents of your money) the consul approved each passport ; 
another fee of fifty cents paid the conductor for his trouble, and he 
brought back the passports on his return run to the frontier. Then the 
station-master wanted four shillings (one dollar) for his share of the work, 
and we were all en regie to enter the Eussian Empire. We got our bag- 
gage ready, and were at the station when the train arrived ; the station- 
master delivered our passports, and collected his fee along with the fees 
of the conductor and consul, and that ended the whole business. The 
consul knew nothing about any of the persons named in the passports, 
and we might have been conspirators or anything else that was objection- 
able, and nobody would have been the wiser. Eussia is the only country 




TRAVELLERS EXAMINED. 



43 



in Europe that keeps up the passport system with any severity, and it only 
results in putting honest people to trouble and expense, and never stops 
those whom it is intended to reach. There, they've opened the door, and 
we can now go before the representatives of the autocrat of all the Kus- 
sias." 

One by one they approached the desk, with the result already stated. 
At the examination of the baggage in the custom-house the clothing and 




IN THE PASSPORT BUREAU. 



personal effects of our friends were passed without question, but there was 
some difficulty over a few books which the boys had bought before leav- 
ing Vienna. One volume, pronounced objectionable, was seized as con- 
traband, but the others were not taken. Every book written by a foreign- 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



er about Russia is carefully examined by the official censor as soon as it 
is published, and upon his decision depends the question of its circulation 
being allowed in the Empire. Anything calculated to throw disrespect 
upon the Imperial family, or upon the Government in general, is prohib- 
ited, as well as everything which can be considered to have a revolution- 
ary tendency. 

" They are not so rigid as they used to be," growled the Englishman, 
as he closed and locked his trunk after the examination was completed. 
" In the time of the Emperor Nicholas they would not allow anything 
that indicated there was any other government in the world which 
amounted to anything, and they were particularly severe upon all kinds 
of school-books. Now they rarely object to school-books, unless they con- 
tain too many teachings of liberty ; and they are getting over their squeam- 
ishness about criticisms, even if they are abusive and untruthful. The 
worst case I ever heard of was of an inspector at one of the frontier sta- 
tions, w T ho seized a book on astronomy because it contained a chapter on 
' The Revolutions of the Earth.' He said nothing revolutionary could be 
allowed to enter the Empire, and confiscated the volume in spite of its 
owner's explanations. 

" Under Nicholas," continued the Englishman, " Macaulay's < History 
of England' was prohibited, though it could be bought without much 
trouble. After Alexander II. ascended the throne the rigors of the cen- 
sorship were greatly reduced, and papers and books were freely admitted 
into Russia which were prohibited in France under Louis Napoleon. All 
the Tauchnitz editions of English works were permitted, even including 
Carlyle's ' French Revolution? It is possible that the last-named book had 
escaped notice, as you would hardly expect it to be allowed free circula- 
tion in Russia. Books and newspapers addressed to the professors of the 
universities, to officers above the rank of colonel, and to the legations of 
foreign countries are not subjected to the censorship, or at least they were 
not so examined a few years ago. Since the rise of Nihilism the authori- 
ties have become more rigid again, and books and papers are stopped 
which would not have been suppressed at all before the death of Alex- 
ander II. 

'•'If you want to know the exact functions of the censor," said the 
gentleman, turning to Frank and Fred, "here is an extract from his 
instructions." 

With these words he gave to one of the youths a printed slip which 
stated that it was the censor's duty to prohibit and suppress " all works 
written in a spirit hostile to the orthodox Greek Church, or containing 



MONEY-CHANGING AT THE FRONTIER. 



45 



anything that is contrary to the truths of the Christian religion, or sub- 
versive of good manners or morality ; all publications tending to assail 
the inviolability of autocratical monarchical power and the fundamental 
laws of the Empire, or to diminish the respect due to the Imperial family ; 
all productions containing attacks on the honor or reputation of any one, 
by improper expressions, by the publication of circumstances relating to 
domestic life, or by calumny of any kind whatever." 

The boys thanked the gentleman for the information he had given 
them on a subject about which they were curious ; and as the examina- 
tion of the custom-house was completed, they proceeded to the restaurant, 
which was in a large hall at the end of the station. 

Near the door of the restaurant was the office of a money-changer, 




WAY STATION ON THE RAILWAY. 



its character being indicated by signs in at least half a dozen languages. 
Passengers were exchanging their Austrian money for Russian, and the 
office seemed to be doing an active business. 

" That fellow has about as good a trade as one could wish," said the 
Englishman, as he nodded in the direction of the man at the little win- 
dow. " Two trains arrive here daily each way , for people going north 
he changes Austrian into Russian money, and for those going south he 



46 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



changes Russian into Austrian. He receives one per cent, commission on 
eacli transaction, which amounts to four per cent, daily, as he handles the 
money four times. I have often envied these frontier bankers, who run 
no risk whatever, provided they are not swindled with counterfeits, and 
can make twelve hundred per cent, annually on their capital. But per- 
haps they have to pay so dearly for 
the privilege that they are unable to 
get rich by their business. By-the- 
way," said he, changing the subject 
abruptly, " did you observe the stout 
lady that stood near us in the ante- 
room of the passport office P 

"Yes," answered the Doctor, 
a and she seemed quite uneasy, as 




though she feared troubl 



BEFORE EXAMINATION. 



" Doubtless she did," was the re- 
ply, "but it was not on account of 
her passport. She was probably 
laden with goods which she intend- 
ed smuggling into Russia, and feared 
detection. I noticed that she was 
called aside by the custom-house 
officials, and ushered into the room 
devoted to suspected persons. She 
isn't here yet, and perhaps they'll 
keep her till the train has gone. 
Ah ! here she comes." 
Frank and Fred looked in the direction indicated, but could not see 
any stout lady ; neither could the Doctor, but he thought he recognized a 
face he had seen before. It belonged to a woman who was comparatively 
slight in figure, and who took her seat very demurely at one" of the tables 
near the door, 

" That is the stout lady of the anteroom," said the Englishman, " and 
her form has been reduced more rapidly than any advocate of the Banting 
or any other anti-fat system ever dreamed of. She was probably detected 
by her uneasy manner, and consequently was subjected to an examination 
at the hands of the female searchers. They've removed dry goods enough 
from her to set up a small shop, and she won't undertake smuggling again 
in a hurry. Import duties are high in Russia, and the temptation to 
smuggle is great. She was an inexperienced smuggler, or she would 



THROUGH RUSSIAN POLAND. 



47 



not have been caught so easily. Probably she is of some other nationality 
than Russian, or they would not have liberated her after confiscating her 
contraband goods/' 

The incident led to a conversation upon the Russian tariff system, 
which is based upon the most emphatic ideas in favor of protection to 
home industries. As it is no part of our intention to discuss the tariff in 
this volume, we will omit what was said upon the subject, particularly as 
no notes were taken by either Frank or Fred. 

In clue time the train on the Russian side of the station was ready to 
receive the travellers, and they took their places in one of the carriages. 
It needed only a glance to show they had crossed the frontier. The Aus- 
trian uniform disappeared, and the Bussian took its place ; the Russian 
language was spoken instead of German; the carriages were lettered in 
Russian; posts painted in alternate 
stripes of white and black (the in- 
vention of the Emperor Paul about 
the beginning of the present cen- 
tury), denoted the sovereignty of 
the Czar ; and the dress of many of 
the passengers indicated a change of 
nationality. 

The train rolled away from 
Granitsa in the direction of "War- 
saw, which was the next point of 
destination of our friends. The 
country through which they trav- 
elled was not particularly interest- 
ing ; it was fairly though not thickly 
settled, and contained no important 
towns on the line of the railway, 
or any other object of especial in- 
terest. Their English acquaintance 
said there were mines of coal, iron, 
and zinc in the neighborhood of 
Zombkowitse, where the railway 
from Austria unites with that from eastern Germany. It is about one 
hundred and eighty miles from Warsaw; about forty miles farther on 
there was a town with an unpronounceable name, with about ten thousand 
inhabitants, and a convent, which is an object of pilgrimage to many pious 
Catholics of Poland and Silesia. A hundred miles from Warsaw they 




48 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



passed Petrikau, which was the seat of the ancient tribunals of Poland ; 
and then, if the truth must be told, they slept for the greater part of 
the way till the train stopped at the station in the Praga suburb of 
Warsaw, on the opposite bank of the Vistula. 

As they neared the station they had a good view of Warsaw, on the 
heights above the river, and commanded by a fortress which occupies the 
centre of the city itself. Alighting from the train, they surrendered their 
passports to an official, who said the documents would be returned to them 




SCENE ON THE RAILWAY. 



at the Hotel de l'Europe, where they proposed to stop during their so- 
journ within the gates of Warsaw. Tickets permitting them to go into 
the city were given in exchange for the passports, and then they entered a 
rickety omnibus and were driven to the hotel. 

It was late in the afternoon when they climbed the sloping road lead- 
ing into Warsaw, and looked down upon the Vistula and the stretch of 
low land on the Praga side. Fred repeated the lines of the old verse from 
which we have already quoted, and observed how well the scene is de- 
scribed in a single couplet : 

"Warsaw's last champion from her heights surveyed, 
Wide o'er the fields a waste of ruin laid." 

Laid desolate by many wars and subjected to despotic rule, the coun- 
try around Warsaw bears little evidence of prosperity. Many houses are 



A BIT OF POLISH HISTORY. 



49 



without tenants, and many farms are either half tilled or wholly without 
cultivation. The spirit of revolution springs eternal in the Polish breast, 
and the spirit- of suppression must be equally enduring in the breast of 
the Kussian. It is only by the severest measures that the Russians can 
maintain their control of Poland. A Polish writer has well described the 
situation when he says, " Under a cruel government, it is Poland's duty 
to rebel against oppression ; under a liberal government, it is her duty to 
rebel because she has the opportunity." 

After dinner at the hotel our friends started for a walk through the 
principal streets ; but they did not go very far. The streets were poorly 
lighted, few people were about, and altogether the stroll was not particu- 
larly interesting. They returned to the hotel, and devoted an hour or so 
to a chat about Poland and her sad history. 

" Walls are said to have ears," the Doctor remarked, a but we have 
little cause to be disturbed about them, as we are only discussing among 




SHUTES FOR LOADING COAL ON THE RAILWAY. 



ourselves the known facts of history. Poland and Russia were at war for 
centuries, and at one time Poland had the best of the fight. How many 
of those who sympathize so deeply with the wrongs of Poland are aware 
of the fact that in 1610 the Poles held Moscow as the Russians now hold 
Warsaw, and that the Russian Czar was taken prisoner, and died the next 
year in a Polish prison? Moscow was burned by the Poles in 1611, and 
thousands of its inhabitants were slaughtered ; in 1612 the Poles were 

4 



50 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

driven out, and from that time to the present their wars with Eussia have 
not been successful." 

" I didn't know that," said Frank, " until I read it to-day in one of our 
books." 

"Nor did I," echoed Fred; "and probably not one person in a hun- 
dred is aware of it." 

" Understand," said the Doctor, with emphasis—" understand that I do 
not say this to justify in any way the wrongs that Eussia may have vis- 




POLISH NATIONAL COSTUMES. 



ited on Poland, but simply to show that all the wrong has not been on 
one side. Eussia and Poland have been hostile to each other for centu- 
ries ; they are antagonistic in everything— language, religion, customs, and 
national ambitions — and there could be no permanent peace between 



THE PARTITIONS OF POLAND. 51 

them until one had completely absorbed the other. Twice in this cen- 
tury (in 1830 and 1863) the Poles have rebelled against Eussia, because 
they^had the opportunity in consequence of the leniency of the Govern- 
ment. From present appearances they are not likely to have the oppor- 
tunity again for a long time, if ever." 

One of the youths asked how the revolution of 1830 was brought 
about. 

" Poland had been, as you know, divided at three different times, by 
Eussia, Austria, and Prussia," said the Doctor, " the third partition taking 
place in 1795. At the great settlement among the Powers of Europe, in 
1815, after the end of the Napoleonic wars, the Emperor of Eussia pro- 
posed to form ancient Poland into a constitutional monarchy under the 
Eussian crown. His plan was adopted, with some modifications, and from 




peasant's farm-house. 



1815 to 1830 the country had its national Diet or Parliament, its national 
administration, and its ^national army of thirty thousand men. The Eus- 
sian Emperor was the King of Poland, and this the Poles resented ; they 
rebelled, and were defeated. After the defeat the constitution was with- 
drawn and the national army abolished; the Polish universities were 




ROYAL PALACE AT WARSAW. 



52 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

closed, the Polish language was proscribed in the public offices, and every 
attempt was made to Eussianize the country. It was harshly punished 
for its .rebellion until Alexander II. ascended the throne. 

« Alexander tried to conciliate the people by granting concessions. The 
schools and universities were reopened ; the language was restored ; Poles 
were appointed to nearly all official positions ; elective district and munic- 
ipal councils were formed, and also 
a Polish Council of State. But 
nothing short of independence 
would satisfy the inhabitants, and 
then came the revolution of 1863. 
It was suppressed, like its prede- 
cessor, and from that time the 
Eussians have maintained such an 
iron rule in Poland that a revolt 
of any importance is next to impossible. All the oppression of which 
Eussia is capable cannot destroy the spirit of independence among the 
Poles. They are as patriotic as the Irish, and will continue to hope for 
liberty as long as their blood flows in human veins." 

A knock on the door brought the Doctor's discourse to an abrupt end. 
It was made by the commissioner, who came to arrange for their excursion 
on the following day. 

We will see in due course where they went and what they saw. It is 
now their bedtime, and they are retiring for the night. 

The next morning they secured a carriage, and drove through the 
principal streets and squares, visiting the Eoyal Palace and other build- 
ings of importance, and also the parks and gardens outside the city limits. 
Concerning their excursion in Warsaw the youths made the following 
notes : 

" We went first to the Eoyal Castle, which we were not permitted to 
enter, as it is occupied by the Viceroy of Poland, or < the Emperor's Lieu- 
tenant,' as he is more commonly called. It is a very old building, which 
has been several times altered and restored. There were many pictures 
and other objects of art in the castle until 1831, when they were removed 
to St. Petersburg. In the square in front of the castle is a statue of one 
of the kings of Poland, and we were told that the square was the scene of 
some of the uprisings of the Poles against their Eussian masters. 

" From the castle we went to the cathedral, which was built in the 
thirteenth century, and contains monuments to the memory of several of 
the kings and other great men of the country. It is proper to say here 



EELIGIONS OF THE PEOPLE. 



53 



that the Catholic is the prevailing religion of Poland, and no doubt much 
of the hatred of Kussians and Poles for each other is in consequence of 
their religious differences. By the latest figures of the population that 
we have at hand, Kussian Poland contains about 3,800,000 Catholics, 
300,000 Protestants, 700,000 Jews, and 250,000 members of the Greek 
Church and adherents of other religions, or a little more than 5,000,000 
of inhabitants in all. Like all people who have been oppressed, the Cath- 




SHRINE AT A GATEWAY. 



olics and Jews are exceedingly devout, and adhere unflinchingly to their 
religious faith. Churches and synagogues are numerous in Warsaw, as in 
the other Polish cities. In our ride through Warsaw we passed many 



51 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



shrines, and at nearly all of them the faithful were kneeling to repeat the 
prayers prescribed by their religions teachers. 

" From the cathedral we went to the citadel, which is on a hill in the 
centre of the city, and was built after the revolution of 1830. The expense 
of its construction was placed upon the people as a punishment for the 
revolution, and for the purpose of bombarding the city in case of another 

rebellion. From the walls of the cit- 
adel there is a fine view of consider- 
able extent ; but there is nothing in 
the place of special interest. The 
fort is constantly occupied by a gar- 
rison of Russian soldiers. It contains 
a prison for political offenders and 
a military court-house, where they 
are tried for their alleged offences. 

" There are ten or twelve squares, 
or open places, in Warsaw, of which 
the finest is said to be the Saxon 
Square. It contains a handsome 
monument to the Poles who adhered 
to the Russian cause in the revolu- 
tion of 1830. Some writers say it 
was all a mistake, and that the Poles 
whose memory is here preserved were 
really on their way to join the regi- 
ments which had declared in favor of 

LAKE IN THE PARK. 

the insurrection. 

" There are several handsome streets and avenues ; and as for the pub- 
lic palaces and fine residences which once belonged to noble families of 
Poland, but are now mostly in Government hands, the list alone would be 
long and tedious. One of the finest palaces is in the Lazienki Park, and 
was built by King Stanislaus Poniatowski. _\ It is the residence of the Em- 
peror of Russia when he comes to Warsaw ; but as his visits are rare, it 
is almost always accessible to travellers. We stopped a few minutes in 
front of the statue of King John Sobieski. There is an anecdote about 
this statue which the students of Russian and Polish history will appreci- 
ate. During a visit in 1850 the Emperor Nicholas paused in front of the 
statue, and remarked to those around him, ' The two kings of Poland 
who committed the greatest errors were John Sobieski and myself, for 
we both saved the Austrian monarchy.' 




SIGHTS AND INDUSTRIES OF WARSAW. 



55 



" Inside the palace there are many fine paintings and other works of 
art. There are portraits of Polish kings and queens, and other rare pict- 
ures, but not as many as in the Castle of Yillanov, which we afterwards 
visited. In the latter, which was the residence of John Sobieski, and 
now belongs to Count Potocki, there are paintings by Rubens and other 
celebrated masters, and there is a fine collection of armor, including the 
suit which was presented to Sobieski by the Pope, after the former had. 
driven the Turks away from Vienna. It is beautifully inlaid with ivory 
and mother-of-pearl, and covered with arabesques of astonishing delicacy. 




A BUSINESS MAN OF WARSAW. 



We could have spent hours in studying it, and you may be sure we left it 
with great reluctance. 

" Warsaw has a population of nearly three hundred thousand, and 
there are a good many factories for the manufacture of carriages, pianos, 
cloth, carpets, and machines of various kinds. The city is the centre of a 



56 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



large trade in grain, cattle, horses, and wool, and altogether it may be con- 
sidered prosperous. Much of the business is in the hands of the Jews, 
who have managed to have and hold a great deal of wealth in spite of the 
oppression they have undergone by both Poles and Kussians. 

" The women of Warsaw are famous for their beauty, and we are all 
agreed that we have seen more pretty faces here than in any other city 
of Europe in the same time. The Jews of "Warsaw are nearly all blonds ; 
the men have red beards, and the hair of the women is of the shade that 
used to be the fashion among American and English actresses, and is not 




IN ST. PETERSBURG. 



yet entirely forgotten. We bought some photographs in one of the 
shops, and are sure they will be excellent adornments for our albums at 
home. 

" In the evening we went to the opera in the hope of seeing the na- 
tional costumes of the Poles, but in this we were disappointed. The 
operas are sung in Italian ; the principal singers are French, Italian, Eng- 
lish, or any other nationality, like those of opera companies elsewhere, and 
only the members of the chorus and ballet are Poles. Kussian uniforms 
are in the boxes and elsewhere in the house, and every officer is required 
to wear his sword, and be ready at any moment to be summoned to fight. 
The men not in uniform are in evening dress, and the ladies are like those 



IN ST. PETERSBURG. 



57 



of an audience in Vienna or Naples, so far as their dress is concerned. 
The opera closed at half-past eleven ; our guide met us outside the door, and 
when we proposed a stroll he said we must be at the hotel by midnight, 
under penalty of being arrested. Any one out-of-doors between midnight 
and daylight" will be taken in by the police and locked up, unless he has 
a pass from the authorities. In troubled times the city is declared in a 
state of siege, and then everybody on the streets after dusk must carry a 
lantern. 

" As we had no fancy for passing the night in a Kussian station-house, 
we returned straight to the hotel. Probably we would have been there 
by midnight in any event, as we were tired enough to make a long walk 
objectionable." 

The next day our friends visited some of the battle-fields near W ar- 
saw, and on the third took the train for St. Petersburg, six hundred and 
twenty-five miles away. There was little of interest along the line of 
railway, as the country is almost entirely a plain, and one mile is so much 
like another that the difference is scarcely perceptible. The principal 
towns or cities through which they passed were Bialystok and Grodno, the 
latter famous for having been the residence of several Polish kings, and 
containing the royal castle where they lived. At Wilna, four hundred 
and forty -one miles from St. Petersburg, the railway unites with that 
from Berlin. The change of train and transfer of baggage detained the 
party half an hour or more, but not long enough to allow them to inspect 
this ancient capital of the independent duchy of Lithuania. At Pskof 
they had another halt, but only sufficient for patronizing the restaurant. 
The town is two miles from the station, and contains an old castle and 
several other buildings of note ; it has a prominent place in Poland's war 
history, but is not often visited by travellers. 

At Gatchina, famous for its trout and containing an Imperial palace, 
an official collected the passports of the travellers, which were afterwards 
returned to them on arriving at the St. Petersburg station. As they ap- 
proached the Imperial city the first object to catch the eye was a great 
ball of gold, outlined against the sky. Frank said it must be the dome 
of St. Isaac's Church, and the Doctor nodded assent to the suggestion. 
The dome of St. Isaac's is to the capital of Eussia what the dome of St. 
Peter's is to Kome— the first object on which the gaze of the approaching 
traveller is fixed. 



58 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



CHAPTER III. 



IN THE STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG. — ISVOSHCHIKS AND DROSKIES. — COUNTING 
IN RUSSIAN. — PASSPORTS AND THEIR USES. — ON THE NEVSKI PROSPECT.— 
VISITING THE CHURCH OF KAZAN. — THE RUSSO-GREEK RELIGION.— UNFAVOR- 
ABLE POSITION OF ST. PETERSBURG.— DANGER OF DESTRUCTION. — GREAT INUN- 
DATION OF 1824. — STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT.— ADMIRALTY SQUARE.— THE 
SAILORS AND THE STATUE. 

A COMMISSIONER from the Hotel de PEurope was at the station. 



Doctor Bronson gave him the receipts for their trunks, and after 
securing their passports, which had been examined on the train during 
the ride from Gatchina, the party entered a carriage and rode to the hotel. 
Frank and Fred were impatient to try a drosky, and wondered why the 
Doctor had not secured one of the vehicles characteristic of the country. 

" You'll have abundant opportunities for drosky-riding," said Doctor 
Bronson, in reply to Fred's query on the subject. " For the present the 
vehicle is not suited to our purposes, as we have our hand -baggage and 
other trifles ; besides, we are three individuals, while the drosky is only 
large enough for two." 

The youths confirmed with their eyes the correctness of the Doctor's 
assertion as the little vehicles were whizzing around them in every direc- 
tion. The drosky is a stout carriage on low wheels, somewhat resem- 
bling the victoria of Western Europe, and is drawn by a single horse. 
The isvoshchik, or driver, is seated on a high box in front, and somehow 
he manages to get an astonishing speed out of the shaggy animal that 
forms his team. Frank afterwards wrote as follows concerning droskies 
and isvoshchiks : 

" It is astonishing to contemplate the swarm of droskies with which 
St. Petersburg and every other Russian city abounds. They are to be 
found everywhere and at all hours. No matter where you may be, or at 
what hour of the day or night, you have only to call out ' Isvoshchik !' 
or 'Drosky!' and one of the little carriages appears as if by magic. 
Not only one, but half a dozen will be pretty sure to come forward. The 
drivers contend, and not always very politely, for the honor of your pat- 




DROSKIES AND ISVOSHCHIKS. 



59 



ronage ; but as soon as you have made your selection the rejected ones 
drop away and leave you undisturbed. 

" There is something interesting in the manner of the isvoshchik, 
especially in the marked contrast before and after he has made a bargain 
with you. Until the transaction is closed, he is as independent as the 
hackman of New York or the cabby of London. The moment the bargain 
is settled and he has accepted your offer, he is your willing slave. Offer 




ISYOSHCHIKS IN WINTER. 



him forty copecks an hour, and he refuses, while demanding fifty or sixty ; 
you walk on, and he pretends to go away, and if your offer is unreason- 
ably low he will not trouble you again. Suddenly he reins up his horse 
close to the sidewalk, springs from his seat, and with the word i Poshowltz ' 
r If you please ') he motions you to enter the carriage. He is now at 
your service, and will drive just as you desire ; your slightest wish will 
be his law. 

" Doctor Bronson told us we must learn how to count in Russian, and 
also acquire a few phrases in common use ; the more of them we could 
learn the better. While on the train from Warsaw to St. Petersburg we 
learned to count. I think we did it in about two hours, as it was really 



60 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



very simple after we had gone through the numerals up to ten and 
fixed them in mind. Perhaps you would like to know how it is done ; 
well, here it is : 

" The numerals from one to twelve are o-deen, dva, tree, ehe-tee-ri, pyat, 
shayst, sem, vocem, ^6-vee-at, ^-ci-at, odeen-nat-zat, dva-nat-zat. For thir- 




^ BOBSFTT& ffl0r&9. S.' 



DROSKY DRIVERS. 

teen, fourteen, and so on, you add < nat-zat ' to the single numerals till you 
get to twenty, which is ' dva-deciat,' or two tens. Twenty-one is ' dva- 
deciat-odeen,' or two tens and one, and so on. You go up to thirty, which 
is < tree-deciat,' or three tens, but generally shortened in pronunciation to 
< treetsat ' or ' tritsat.' All the other tens up to ninety are formed in the 
same way, with the exception of forty, which is < sorok.' Ninety is ' deviat- 
na-sto ' (' ten taken from hundred '), and one hundred is ' sto two hundred 



HIDING IN THE STREETS. 



Gl 



is 4 dva-sto.' The other hundreds are formed in the same way to five 
hundred, which is ' pjat sot six hundred is 6 shayst sot,' and the other 
hundreds go on the same way ; one thousand is ' tis-syat-sA^.' You can 
now go ahead with tens and hundreds of thousands up to a million, which 
is ' meel-yon ' — very much like our own word for the same number. 

"It helps us greatly in getting around among the people without a 
guide. We can bargain with the drivers, make purchases in the shops, 
and do lots and lots of things which we could not if we didn't know how 
to count. Any boy or man who comes to Eussia should learn to count 
while he is riding from the frontier to St. Petersburg, and if he takes our 
advice he will do so. He can find it all in Murray's or any other good 
guide-book, and he will also find there the most useful phrases for travel- 
ling purposes. 

" In driving with the isvoshchiks, we have found them very obliging, 
and both Fred and I have been many times surprised at their intelligence 
when we remembered that very few of them were able to read or write 
their own language. When they find we are foreigners, and do not speak 
Eussian, they do not jabber away like French or German drivers, or Lon- 
don cabbies, but confine themselves to a very few words. Take one we 
had to-day, for example : as he drove along he called our attention to the 
churches ' and other public buildings that we passed by, pronouncing the 
name of the building and nothing more. In this way we understood him ; 
but if he had involved the name with a dozen or twenty other words we 
should have been in a perfect fog about it. 

" In winter the drosky makes way for the sledge, which is the tiniest 
vehicle of the kind you can imagine. Two persons can crowd into a 
sledge, though there is really room for only one. Whether you are one or 
two, you sit with your face within ten or twelve inches of the driver's 
back, which forms almost the entire feature of your landscape. The 
sledges in winter are even more numerous than are the droskies in sum- 
mer, as many persons ride then who do not do so when the weather is 
warm. 

" Everybody rides in a Eussian city in winter — at least everybody who 
claims to have much respect for himself ; and in fact riding is so cheap 
that it must be a very shallow purse that cannot afford it. For a drive of 
a mile or less you pay eight or ten copecks (ten copecks equal eight cents), 
and you can ride a couple of miles for fifteen copecks, and sometimes for 
ten. By the hour you pay forty or fifty copecks ; and if you make a 
bargain you can have the vehicle all to yourself a whole day for a dollar 
and a half, and sometimes less. They go very fast ; and if your time is 



62 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



limited, and you want to see a good deal in a little while, it is the best 
kind of economy to hire an isvoshchik to take you about." 

We left our friends on the way to the hotel when we wandered off to 
hear what Frank had to say about the droskies and their drivers. The 
ride along the streets was full of interest to the youths, to whom it was all 
new; but it was less so to Doctor Bronson, who had been in St. Peters- 
burg before. They drove up the Yosnesenski Prospect, a broad avenue 
which carried them past the Church of the Holy Trinity, one of the in- 
teresting churches out of the many in the city, and then by a cross street 
passed into the Nevski Prospect, which may be called the Broadway of 
the Russian capital. We shall hear more of the Nevski Prospect later on. 

At the hotel they surrendered their passports to the clerk as soon as 
they had selected their rooms ; the Doctor told the youths they would 
not again see those important documents until they had settled their bill 
and prepared to leave. Frank and Fred were surprised at this announce- 
ment, and the Doctor explained : 

" The passports must go at once to the Central Bureau of the Police, 
and we shall be registered as stopping in this hotel. When the register 
has been made the passports will be returned to the hotel and locked up 
in the manager's safe, according to the custom of the country." 

" Why doesn't he give them back to us instead of locking them in the 
safe V ' one of the youths inquired. 

" It has long been the custom for the house-owner to keep the pass- 
port of any one lodging with him, as he is in a certain sense responsible 
for his conduct. Besides, it enables him to be sure that nobody leaves 
without paying his bill, for the simple reason that he can't get away. 
When we are ready to go we must give a few hours' notice ; the passports 
will be sent to the police-office again, with a statement as to our destina- 
tion ; after we have paid our bills and are ready to go, the passports will 
be handed to us along with the receipt for our money." 

" That makes hotel-keeping a great deal more certain than it is in 
American cities, does it not ?" said Fred. 

" And you never hear in Russia of a man running away from a hotel 
where he has contracted a large bill, and leaving nothing but a trunk filled 
with straw and stove-wood as security, do you ?" Frank inquired. 

" Such a thing is unknown," the Doctor answered. " I once told 
some Russian acquaintances about the way hotel-keepers were defrauded 
in America by unprincipled persons. One of them exclaimed, 4 What a 
happy country ! and how cheaply a man could live there, with no police 
officers to stop his enterprise !"' 



ATTENDANTS ON A HIGH OFFICIAL, 



64 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



"When you go from one city to another," said the Doctor, " the for- 
mality to be observed is slight, and the hotel people will attend to it for 
you without charge. When you are going to leave Eussia, a few days' 
notice must be given at the .police-office ; and if any creditors have filed 
their claims against you with the police, yOu must settle them before you 
can have your passport. If any one owes you money, and you have rea- 
son to believe he intends leaving the country, you can stop him or get . 
your money by leaving your account with the police for collection. Ab- 
sconding debtors are nearly as rare in Eussia as absconding hotel-patrons, 
for the simple reason that the law restricts their movements. In spite of 
what our English friend said of the passport system, there are some ex- 
cellent features about it. Another thing is—" 

They were interrupted by a servant, who came to ask if there were 
any friends in St. Petersburg whom they wished to find. The commis- 
sioner was going to the Police Bureau with the passports, and would make 
any inquiries they desired. 

The Doctor answered in the negative, and the servant went away. 

" That is what I was about to mention," said Doctor Bronson, as soon 
as the door was closed. " The first time I came to St. Petersburg I was 
riding along the Nevski Prospect, and saw an old acquaintance going in 
the other direction. He did not see me, and before I could turn to fol- 
low him he was lost in the crowd of vehicles. But in two hours I found 
him, and we had a delightful afternoon together. How do you suppose 
I did it? 

" Why, I sent to the Police Bureau, paid two cents, and obtained a 
memorandum of his address. For a fee of two cents you can get the 
address of any one you name, and for two cents each any number of ad- 
dresses. In numerous instances I found it a great convenience, and so 
have other travellers. If you wanted to find a friend in New York or Lon- 
don, and didn't know his address, you would have a nice time about it ; 
but in Moscow or St. Petersburg there would be no trouble whatever." 

As soon as they had removed the dust of the journey our friends went 
out for a stroll before dinner. The Hotel de l'Europe is on the corner of 
the Nevski Prospect and one of the smaller streets, and only a short dis- 
tance from the KazansH Sohor, or Church of Kazan. But before they 
enter this celebrated edifice we will look with them at the grand avenue, 
the Nevski Prospect. 

" It is straight as a sunbeam for three miles," said Fred in his note- 
book, "with the Admiralty Buildings at one end, and the Church of St. 
Alexander ISevski at the other, though the latter is a little way from the 



THE NEVSKI PROSPECT. 



65 



line. It is perfectly level from end to end. like a street of New Orleans 
or Sacramento. St. Petersburg is built on a marsh, and through its whole 
extent there isn't a hill other than an artificial one. It is a broad avenue 
(one hundred and thirty feet in width), reminding us of the boulevards of 
Paris, and the crowd of vehicles coming and going at all hours of the day 
and far into the night makes the scene a, picturesque one. 

" All classes and kinds of Russians are to be seen here, from the mu- 
jik, with his rough coat of sheepskin, up to the officer of the army, whose 




RUSSIAN WORKMEN ON THEIR WAY HOME. 



breast is covered with decorations by the dozen or even more. The vehi- 
cles are of many kinds, the drosky being the most frequent, and there is 
hardly one of them without the duga, or yoke, over the horse between the 
shafts. The horses are driven furiously, but they are completely under 

5 



66 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 




RUSSIAN OFFICER WITH DECORATIONS. 

the control of their drivers, and accidents are said to be very rare. Per- 
haps this is owing to the fact that a driver is liable to severe punishment 
if he causes any injury to a pedestrian. 

« Somebody has remarked that the Nevski Prospect ought to be called 
Toleration Avenue, for the reason that it contains churches of so many 
different faiths. There are of course the Kusso-Greek churches, represent- 
ing the religion of the country, and there are Catholic, Lutheran, Dutch, 
and Armenian churches, standing peacefully in the same line. It is a pity 



THE CHURCH OF KAZAN. 



67 



that the adherents of these diverse religions do not always agree as well as 
do the inanimate edifices that represent them. 

" The buildings are very substantial in appearance, and many of them 
are literally palaces. The military headquarters are on the Nevski, and so 
is the palace of one of the grand-dukes; then there are several palaces 
belonging to noble families. There is the Institution of St. Catherine, 
and the Gostinna Dvor, or Great Market-place, with ten thousand mer- 
chants, more or less, transacting business there. We'll go there to make 
some purchases and tell you about it ; at present we will cross the Nevski 
to the Church of Kazan. 

" It reminds us of the Church of St. Peter at Rome, as it has a colon- 
nade in imitation of the one which attracts the eye of every visitor to the 
Eternal City, and takes its name from " Our Lady of Kazan," to whom it 
is dedicated. Kazan was once a Tartar city, and the capital of the Tartar 
kingdom of the same name. It was fortified, and stoutly defended, and 
gave the Russians a great deal of trouble. In the sixteenth century John 
the Terrible conquered the kingdom and annexed it to Russia. The last 
act in the war was the capture of the city of Kazan. The Russians were 
several times repulsed, but finally the Kremlin was carried, and the Tartar 
power came to an end. A picture of the Virgin was carried in front of 
the attacking column, and this picture, all devout Russians believe, gave 
the victory over the Moslem. The church w T as built in memory of the 
event, and the sacred picture from Kazan is preserved and worshipped 
here. 

" It is a beautiful church, in the form of a cross, two hundred and thir- 
ty-eight feet long and one hundred and eighty-two feet wide. From the 
ground to the top of the cross above the cupola is more than two hundred 
and thirty feet, and the cupola is so large that it is visible from a long dis- 
tance. As we entered the church we were struck by the absence of seats. 
We were told by the Doctor that Russian churches contain no seats, and 
all worshippers must stand or kneel while at their devotions. To this 
there are no exceptions ; the same requirement being made of the Em- 
peror as of the most obscure peasant. 

" There is no instrumental music in the Greek Church, and church 
choirs composed of male and female voices are unknown here. All the 
singers in the churches are men ; the prayers are mostly intoned, and all 
the congregation joins in the responses. There are no pews, or reserved 
places of any kind, except a standing-place for the Emperor, all worship- 
pers being considered equal ; neither are there any fees to be paid by 
those who come to worship. 



68 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

" The picture of Our Lady of Kazan, which has such a miraculous le- 
gend connected with it, is richly covered with precious stones, said to be 
worth nearly a hundred thousand dollars. There are other costly pictures 
in the church, but none to equal this one. There are a good many flags, 
and other trophies of war, along the walls and around the pillars ; and, to 
tell the truth, it has almost as much the appearance of a military museum 
as of a cathedral. There are the keys of Hamburg, Leipsic, and other cit- 
ies which at various times have been captured by Russia, and the church 
contains the tombs of several Russian generals who were killed in the war 
with France in 1812. 

"We observed a curious effect in the pictures in this church which 
we found afterwards in a great many holy pictures in Russia. The hands 

and face, and any other flesh, are 
painted on a flat surface, but the 
dress and ornaments are often 
raised in gold, silver, or other metal, 
and studded with precious stones, 
according to the will or financial 
ability of the owner. The Church 
rejects all massive images of the 
Saviour or saints as idolatrous, and 
says they violate the command- 
ment " Thou shalt not make unto 
thyself any graven image." It 
does not exclude mosaics, and any- 
thing produced in low relief, but the 
rule that flesh shall be represented 
by a flat surface is imperative. 

"We afterwards attended serv- 
ice in the Kazan church, and were 
impressed with its solemnity and 
simplicity. The vocal music had 
an admirable effect as it resounded 
through the vast building, and we 
have never anywhere seen a congre- | 
gation more devout than this. Nearly every one held a candle, and care- 
fully guarded the name from the draughts that occasionally swept over 
the congregation. Illuminations have a very important place in all 
church ceremonies, and there are no weddings, betrothals, funerals, or any 
other sacred services, without candles or tapers. 




i 



PIETY OF THE RUSSIANS, 



09 



" Lights are kept burning in front of the principal pictures in the 
churches. Throughout the Empire there is an Eikon, or sacred picture, in 
the principal room of every house whose owner is an adherent of the 
Church of the country, and often in every room of consequence. On en- 
tering a room where there is such a picture, every devout .Russian crosses 
himself ; and so great is the respect shown to it, that when Russian thieves 
enter a room for the purpose of stealing, they spread a handkerchief over 
the picture so that the saint who is represented upon it cannot see them. 

"Religion has a more important part in the practical life of the Rus- 
sians than in that of any other people of Europe. The blessing of the 
Church is invoked upon every undertaking. Steamboats, ships, and all 
other craft are blessed by the priest at their launching or before being 
put into service ; the locomotives and carriages of a railway are similarly 
treated ; and the same may be said of every vehicle, machine, or other 
thing of consequence. So with cattle, horses, sheep, and other live-stock ; 
and so, also, with the furniture and adornments of the house. 

" In the theatres the Government does not allow the representation of 
any kind of religious ceremonial as part of a performance, lest it might 
bring religion into ridicule, and under no circumstances can an actor be 
dressed to personate a priest. The Czar, or Emperor, is the recognized 
head of the Church, and among the common people he is regarded as 
only a little less than a divinity. 

" Those who have lived long among the Russians, and ought to know 
them, say the venerative feeling among the common people is very great, 
and more so among the higher classes than in the Latin countries of 
Europe. They are devout church-goers, and the feasts and fasts of the 
Church are carefully observed. They form a serious drawback to business 
matters, as there are certain days when no man or woman can be induced 
to work at any price. The owners of establishments which require to 
be kept constantly in operation manage to get around this custom by 
keeping their employes constantly in debt, as the Russian law and custom 
compel a man to work steadily to discharge such indebtedness. 

" Pilgrimages to monasteries and shrines are more common among the 
Russians than any other Christian people, and the poorer classes often go 
on long and painful journeys through their religious zeal. A large num- 
ber of Russian pilgrims can be found in Jerusalem every year at Easter, 
as well as at other times. So important is this pilgrimage that the Rus- 
sian Government maintains a convent at Jerusalem for lodging its sub- 
jects ; and the Crimean war practically grew out of a quarrel which was 
brought about with reference to the holy places of the famous city. 



70 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



« Great numbers of pilgrims go every year from all parts of Eussia to 
the Convent of Solovetsk in the Frozen Sea, seven or eight hundred miles 
to the north-east of the capital. 

" We may have more to say on religious matters before leaving Kussia, 
but for the present we will drop the subject and continue our walk on 
the Nevski." 

As they strolled in the direction of the Neva, the river that gives its 
name to the long avenue, Fred asked how it happened that St. Petersburg 
was built on a marsh instead of upon elevated ground. 

" It was because Peter the Great wanted a capital city that could be a 
seaport, and this was the best site that could be found. Moscow was in- 
land (it is four hundred miles from here to that city), and Peter realized 
that no country could be great and important without communication 
over the sea to other lands. So he came here and founded the city 
which bears his name. It was a forbidding place, but his will was law, 
and the city grew and lived though a hundred thousand men perished in 
the first year of its construction. The first house was built in 1703. In 
1712 Peter declared it his capital, and the Imperial court was moved 
here from Moscow. For a long time the place was very unhealthy, and 
even down to the present day it is not by any means the best location 
in the world for a city. The drainage is defective, the drinking-water is 
not good, especially in the summer season, and the city has several times 
suffered from inundations. 

" For many years every vessel coining to the port, and every cart enter- 
ing the city, was required to bring a certain number of stones for filling 
the marsh and paving the streets. Where the large buildings stand, fab- 
ulous amounts have been expended in making foundations, and many of 
them have cost more than the buildings that stand upon them. The 
foundations of the Church of St, Isaac are said to have cost four millions 
of dollars, and twenty-five years were spent in their construction." 
Frank asked about the inundations mentioned by tlie Doctor. 
" There have been some eight or ten of them," the Doctor answered. 
" The most serious inundation of this century was in 1824, when the 
water of the Neva rose thirteen feet and four inches above its ordinary 
level. Observe that line," said he, as he pointed to a mark upon a build- 
ing ; "that is the point to which the waters rose in the inundation of 1824." 

The mark was nearly four feet above the level of the sidewalk where 
they stood. Frank and Fred regarded it with astonishment, while the 
Doctor continued: 

"In a single night (November 17th) property to the value of twenty 



72 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

millions of dollars was destroyed, and it was estimated that not less than 
eight thousand people lost their lives. The flood was caused by a strong 
westerly wind which combined with the tide and forced the waters in 




THE INUNDATION OF 1824. 



from the Gulf of Finland, which is here formed like a funnel. Now sup- 
pose the flood had occurred in April, at the time when Lake Ladoga breaks 
up and pours its accumulated ice and water through the Neva, what would 
have been the result ?" 

" Would the city have been destroyed?" queried one of the youths. 

" So it is said, by many who have studied its position. They aver that 



EFFECTS OF THE INUNDATION. 



73 



when a high tide, a westerly wind, and the breaking np of the ice in Lake 
Ladoga shall all come together, the streets of St. Petersburg will be not 
less than twenty feet under water, and Russia will be obliged to select an- 
other site for her capital. But as it is not likely that all these things will 
happen during our visit, we won't borrow any trouble about the matter." 

" I have read," said Fred, " that in that inundation the prisoners in 
the fort were drowned in their cells. The lower part of the fort was 
flooded, was it not ?" 

"Yes," the Doctor answered; "but so many romances have been 
written on the subject that it is difficult to get at the exact truth. It is 
very likely that the prisoners in the lower cells of the fort were drowned, 
and I believe the authorities admit that such was the case. In the Paris 
Exhibition of 1867 there was a startling picture representing the death of 




STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT. 

a Russian princess who was imprisoned there at the time. She is repre- 
sented standing on her little bed surrounded by rats that have been 
driven from their holes by the flood. The water is nearly up to the level 
of the bed, and is pouring in at the grated window. The picture haunted 



74 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

me for years after I saw it, and even now it occasionally comes up in my 
dreams. I haven't thought of it for some time, but this question of yours 
has revived it." 

They continued their walk towards the Neva, with an occasional glance 
at the needle-like spire that rises above the Admiralty buildings. They 
came out into Admiralty Square, a large open space, which gave them a 
view of the Admiralty buildings, the Church of St. Isaac, the equestrian 
statue of Peter the Great, and the Winter Palace, together with one of the 
bridges spanning the Neva to the islands opposite. 

« Which shall we see first V queried the Doctor of his young com- 
panions. 

" Whichever you think best," answered Frank, to which Fred nodded 
approval. 

" Our time just now is limited," said the Doctor, "and perhaps we will 
satisfy ourselves with the statue of Peter the Great. But as we walk 
about we must not fail to take in the general view, which is of unusual 
interest." 

The statue is well known through its frequent representation in en- 
gravings, and is one of the most remarkable monuments of the Imperial 
city. It was ordered by the Empress Catherine, and was cast by Falconet, 
a Frenchman. The inscription upon it reads— 

"Petri: Pervomu.— EKATERINA VTORYA" 
(To Peter I — By Catherine II, mdoclxxxii.) 

Evidently Catherine had a sufficient idea of her consequence, as the letters 
which make her name are considerably larger than those of her illustrious 
sire's. 

" The horse," said Fred, in his note-book, " is on the brink of a preci- 
pice, where he is being reined in by his rider. Peter's face is towards the 
Neva, while his right hand is directed to the city which he built. Under 
the horse's feet is a serpent, which typifies the difficulties the Czar has 
overcome. The horse is balanced on his hind legs and tail, his forefeet 
being clear from the rock. It is said that the weight of the statue is 
about ten thousand pounds. 

" The statue stands on a block of granite that originally weighed fif- 
teen hundred tons, and was brought from Finland. The block is fourteen 
feet high, twenty feet broad, and forty-three feet long. It consists of two 
pieces that have been carefully joined together, and the operation of mov- 
ing it was a triumph of engineering skill. 

« I have read a good story apropos of this monument— about two boys 



AN AMUSING INCIDENT. 75 

who belonged to an English ship that was lying at the quay beyond the 
statue. They had wandered off into the city and lost their way, and in 
order to get back they engaged a carriage. But after engaging it they 
were in trouble, as they could not tell the driver where to go. 

"Two sailors from the same ship happened along, and to them the 
boys told the story of their perplexity. The sailors were in the same 
predicament^ as they wanted to get back to the ship, and didn't know 
which way to go. 




IMPROVISING A STAT UK. 

" ' If we only knew what the Russian is for that statue,' said one of 
the boys, ' we could make him understand.' 

" They tried all the words they knew, but to no purpose. Suddenly 
an idea occurred to one of the sailors. He asked the other to get down on 
all-fours, which he did, wondering what was the matter with his comrade. 
Jack mounted his friend's back as though he were a steed, and took the 
attitude of Peter the Great as nearly as he could remember it. The other 
sailor caught at the idea, and reared slightly on his feet in the position 
of Peter's horse. The isvoshchiks comprehended what was wanted, and 
roared with delight ; the two sailors jumped into a drosky, which fol- 
lowed the carriage containing the boys, and in due time the party arrived 
safely at its destination." 



70 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



CHAPTER IV. 

DINNER IN A RUSSIAN RESTAURANT. — CABBAGE SOUP, FISH PIES, AND OTHER ODD 

DISHES. THE SAMOVAR AND ITS USES.— RUSSIAN TEA - DRINKERS. JOLTAI 

CHA I. — ALEXANDER' S COLUMN. — FORTRESS OF STS. PETER AND PAUL.-IMPE- 
RIAL ASSASSINATIONS. -SKETCHES OF THE PEOPLE. -RUSSIAN POLICE AND 
THEIR WAYS. 

TNSTEAD of returning to the hotel for dinner, our friends went to a 
J- traktir, or Russian restaurant, in a little street running out of Admi- 
ralty Square. The youths were anxious to try the national dishes of the 
country, and consequently they accepted with pleasure Doctor Bronson's 
suggestion relative to their dining-place. 

" The finest and most characteristic restaurants of Russia are in Mos- 
cow rather than in St. Petersburg," said the Doctor, as he led the way to 
the establishment they had decided to patronize. " St. Petersburg has a 
great many French and German features that you do not find in Moscow, 
and when we get to the latter city we must not fail to go to the ' Mos- 
kovski Traktir,' which is one of the most celebrated feeding-places of the 
old capital. There the waiters are clad in silk shirts, or frocks, extending 
nearly to the knee, over loose trousers of the same material. At the estab- 
lishment where we are now going the dress is that of the ordinary French 
restaurant, and we shall have no difficulty in finding some one who speaks 
either French or German." 

They found the lower room of the restaurant filled with men solacing 
themselves with tea, which they drank from glasses filled and refilled from 
pots standing before them. On each table was a steaming samovar to sup- 
ply boiling water to the teapots as fast as they were emptied. The boys 
had seen the samovar at railway-stations and other places since their en- 
trance into the Empire, but had not thus far enjoyed the opportunity of 
examining it. 

" We will have a samovar to ourselves," said the Doctor, as they 
mounted the stairs to an upper room, " and then you can study it as 
closely as you like." 

The Russian bill of fare was too much for the reading abilities of any 
one of the trio. The Doctor could spell out some of the words, but found 



EUSSIAN DINNEES. 



77 



they would get along better by appealing to one of the waiters. Under 
his guidance they succeeded very well, as we learn from Frank's account 
of the dinner. . 

" Doctor Bronson told us that cabbage soup was the national dish of 
the country, and so we ordered it, under the mysterious name of tschee e 
harsha. The cabbage is chopped, and then boiled till it falls into shreds ; 
a piece of meat is cooked with it ; the soup is seasoned with pepper and 
salt ; and altogether the tschee (soup) is decidedly palatable. Karsha is 
barley thoroughly boiled, and then dried over the fire until the grains fall 
apart. A saucerf ul of this cooked barley is supplied to you along with the 
soup, and you eat them together. You may mingle the karsha with the 




TEA-SELLERS IN THE STREETS. 



tschee as you would mix rice with milk, but the orthodox way of eating is 
to take a small quantity of the harsha into your spoon each time before 
dipping it into the soup. A substantial meal can be made of these arti- 
cles alone, and there are millions of the subjects of his Imperial Majesty 
the Czar who dine to-day and many other days in the year on nothing 
else. The Emperor eats tschee, and so does the peasant — probably the 



78 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

Emperor lias it less often in the year than does his poor subject ; but the 
soup is of the same kind, except that very often the peasant cannot afford 
the important addition of meat." 

« Don't forget," Fred interposed, when the foregoing description was 




RUSSIAN RESTAURANT AT THK PARIS EXPOSITION. 

read to him—" don't forget to say that they served us a little cup or mug 
of sour cream along with the tschee." 

"Yes, that's so," responded Frank; "but I didn't like it particularly, 
and therefore came near forgetting it. We remember best the things that 
please us." 

" Then perhaps you didn't like the zaJcushka, or appetizer, before din- 
ner," said the Doctor, " as I see you haven't mentioned it." 

"I hadn't forgotten it," said the youth, "but was going to say some- 
thing about it at the end. You know the preface of a book is always 
written after the rest of the volume has been completed, but as you've 
called attention to it, I'll dispose of it now. Here it is : 

"There was a side-table, on which were several plates containing rel- 
ishes of different kinds, such as caviare, raw herring, dried beef, smoked 



THE ZAKUSHKA. 



79 



salmon cut in little strips or squares, radishes, cheese, butter, and tiny sand- 
wiches about the- size of a half-dollar. A glass of cordial, of which sev- 
eral kinds were .offered, goes^with the zakushka for those who like it ; the 
cordial and a few morsels of the solid things are supposed to sharpen the 
appetite and prepare it for the dinner which is to be eaten at the table. 

" The zakushka is inseparable torn a dinner in Eussia, and belongs to 
it just as much as do any of the dishes that are served after the seats are 
taken. While we were standing around the side-table where it was served 
at our first dinner in St. Petersburg, Doctor Bronson told us a story that 
is too good to be lost. I'll try to give it in his words : 

" There was once a Eussian soldier who had a phenomenal appetite ; 
he could eat an incredible quantity of food at a sitting, and the officers of 




AN OUT-DOOR TEA-PARTY. 



his regiment used to make wagers with strangers about his feeding abili- 
ties. They generally won ; and as the soldier always received a present 
when he had gained a bet, he exerted himself to the best of his ability. 

" One day the colonel made a wager for a large amount that his man 
could eat an entire sheep at a sitting. The sheep was selected, slaugh- 
tered, and sent to a restaurant, and at the appointed time the colonel ap- 
peared with the soldier. In order to help the man along, the keeper of 
the restaurant had cooked the different parts of the sheep in various ways ; 



80 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



there were broiled and fried cutlets, roasted and boiled quarters, and some 
stews and hashes made from the rest. Dish after dish disappeared. When 
almost the entire sheep had been devoured, the soldier turned to the colo- 
nel and said, 

« < If you give me so much zakusKka I'm afraid I sha'n't be able to 
eat all of the sheep when they bring it.' " 

« But to return to soups. In addition to tschee, the Kussians have 
ukha, or fish soup, made of any kind of fish that is in season. The most 
expensive is made from sterlet, a fish that is found only in the Yolga, and 
sometimes sells for its weight in silver. We tried it one day, and liked 
it very much, but it costs too much for frequent eating except by the 
wealthy. A very good fish soup is made from trout, and another from 
perch. 

" After the soup we had zpirog, or pie made of the spinal cord of the 
sturgeon cut into little pieces about half as large as a pea. It resembles 
isinglass in appearance and is very toothsome. The pie is baked in a deep 
dish, with two crusts, an upper and an under one. Doctor Bronson says 
the Eussians make all kinds of fish into pies and patties, very much as we 
make meat pies at home. They sometimes put raisins in these pies— a 
practice which seems very incongruous to Americans and English. They 
also make solianka, a dish composed of fish and cabbage, and not at all 
bad when one is hungry ; red or black pepper liberally applied is an im- 
provement. 

« What do you think of okroshka — a soup made of cold beer, with 
pieces of meat, cucumber, and red herrings floating in it along with bits 
of ice to keep it cool? Don't want any. Neither do we; but the Rus- 
sians of the lower classes like it, and I have heard Eussian gentlemen 
praise it. Many of them are fond of batvenia, which is a cold soup made 
in much the same way as ohroshJca, and about as unpalatable to us. We 
ordered a portion of okroshka just to see how it looked and tasted. One 
teaspoonful was enough for each of us, and batvenia we didn't try. 

« After the pirog we had cutlets of chicken, and then roast mutton 
stuffed with buckwheat, both of them very good. They offered us some 
boiled pig served cold, with horseradish sauce, but we didn't try it ; and 
then they brought roast grouse, with salted cucumbers for salad. We 
wound up with Nesselrode pudding, made of plum-pudding and ices, and 
not unknown in other countries. Then we had the samovar, which had 
been made ready for us, and drank some delicious tea which we prepared 
ourselves. Now for the samovar. 

" Its name comes from two words which mean ' self-boiling ;' and the 



HABITS OF TEA-DRINKERS. 



81 



samovar is nothing but an urn -of brass or copper, with a cylinder in the 
centre, where a fire is made with charcoal. The water surrounds the 
cylinder, and is -thus kept at the boiling-point, which the Russians claim 
is indispensable to the making of good tea. The beverage is drank not 




RUSSIAN MUJIKS DRINKING TEA. 



from cups, but from glasses, and the number of glasses it will contain is 
the measure of a samovar. The Russians rarely put milk with their tea ; 
the common people never do so, and the upper classes only when they 
have acquired the habit while abroad. They rarely dissolve sugar in their 
tea, but nibble from a lump after taking a swallow of the liquid. A 
peasant will make a single lump serve for four or five glasses of tea, 
and it is said to be an odd sensation for a stranger to hear the nibbling 





82 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



/ussians 



is engaged in 



and grating of lumps of sugar when a party of R 
tea-drinking. 

" We sat late over the samovar, and then paid our bill and returned to 
the Square. Doctor Bronson told lis that an enormous quantity of tea is 

consumed in Russia, but very lit- 
tle coffee. Formerly all the tea 
used in the Empire was brought 
overland from China by way of 
Siberia, and the business enabled 
the importers of tea to accumu- 
late great fortunes. Down to 
1860 only one cargo of tea an- 
nually was brought into Russia 
by sea, all the rest of the impor- 
tation being through the town of 
Kiachta, on the frontier of Mon- 
golia. Since 1860 the ports of 
the Empire have been opened to 
tea brought from China by wa- 
ter, and the trade of Kiachta has 
greatly diminished. But it is 
still very large, and long trains 
of sledges come every winter 
through Siberia laden with the 
tea which has been brought to 
Kiachta on the backs of camels 
from the districts where it is 




PLANT FROM WHICH YELLOW TEA IS MADE. 



"There is one kind of the 
Chinese herb, called joltai chad 
(yellow tea), which is worth at retail about fifteen dollars a pound. 



It 



is said to be made from the blossom of the tea-plant, and is very diffi- 
cult to find out of Russia, as all that is produced comes here for a mar- 
ket. We each had a cup of this tea to finish our dinner with, and noth- 
ing more delicious was ever served from a teapot. The infusion is a pale 
yellow, or straw-color, and to look at appears weak enough, but it is 
unsafe to take more than one cup if you do not wish to be kept awake 
all night. Its aroma fills the room when it is poured out. All the pens 
in the world cannot describe the song of the birds or the perfume of the 
flowers, and so my pen is unable to tell you about the aroma and taste 



MONUMENTS IN ST. PETERSBURG. 



83 



of joltai chai. We'll get a small box of the best and send it home for 
you to try." 

It was so late in the day when our friends had finished their dinner 
and returned to the Square, that there was not much time left for sight- 
seeing. They were in front of the Winter Palace and St. Isaac's Church, 
but decided to leave them until another day. Fred's attention was drawn 
to a tall column between the Winter Palace and a crescent of lofty build- 
ings called the Mat-major, or staff headquarters, and he asked the Doctor 
what it was. 

" That is the Alexander Column," was the reply to the question. " It 
is one of the largest monoliths or single shafts of modern times, and was 
erected in 1832 in memory of Alexander I." 

" What a splendid column !" said Frank. " I wonder how high it is." 




COLUMN IN MEMORY OF ALEXANDER I. 



Thereupon the youths fell to guessing at the height of the column. 
After they had made their estimates — neither of them near the mark but 
considerably below it — Doctor Bronson gave them its dimensions. 



84: 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



« The shaft, without pedestal or capital, is fourteen feet in diameter 
and eighty-four feet high ; it was originally one hundred and two feet 
high, but was reduced through fear that its length was out of proportion 
to its diameter. The base and pedestal are one single block of red granite 
about twenty-five feet high, and the capital is sixteen feet high. The 
angel above the capital is fourteen feet tall, and the cross in the hands of 
the angel is seven feet above it. With the platform on which it rests, 
the whole structure rises one hundred and fifty-four feet from the level of 
the ground." 

" They must have had a hard time to make the foundations in this 
marshy ground," one of the boys remarked. 

« They drove six rows of piling there, one after the Other, before get- 
ting a foundation to suit them," said the Doctor. "The shaft alone, 
which was put up in the rough and finished afterwards, is thought to 
weigh about four hundred tons, and the pedestal and base nearly as much 
more. Unfortunately the shaft has suffered from the effects of the severe 
climate, and may be destroyed at no distant day. Several cracks have 
been made by the frost, and though they have been carefully cemented, 
they continue to increase in size. Pieces have fallen from the surface of 
the stone in the same way that they have fallen from the Egyptian obelisk 
in New York, and it is very evident that the climate of St. Petersburg is 
unfriendly to monuments of granite." 

The bronze on the pedestal and capital is from Turkish cannon which 
were melted down for the purpose. The only inscription is in the few 
words, 

U T0 ALEXANDER THE FIRST, GRATEFUL RUSSIA." 

Frank made a sketch of the monument together . with the buildings of 
the Mat-major and a company of soldiers that marched past the foot of 
the column. Doctor Bronson said the soldiers belonged to the guard 
of the palace, where they had been on duty through the day, and had 
just been relieved. 

From the column and the buildings surrounding it the trio of strangers 
walked to the bank of the river and watched the boats on the w T ater. 
where the setting sun slanted in long rays and filled the air with the 
mellow light peculiar to high latitudes near the close of day. It was 
early in September, and already the evening air had a touch of coolness 
about it. St. Petersburg is in latitude 60° North, and consequently is quite 
near the Arctic Circle. Doctor Bronson told the youths -that if they hac 
come there in July they would have found very little night, the sun set 



DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE CAPITAL. 



ting not far from ten o'clock and rising about two. In the four hours 
of night there is almost continuous twilight; and by mounting to the 
top of a high building at midnight one can see the position of the sun 
below the northern horizon. Any one who goes to bed after sunset 
and rises before sunrise would have very little sleep in St. Petersburg 
in summer. 

" On the other hand," said the Doctor, " the nights of winter are very 




PETER THE GREAT. 



long. Winter is the gay season here, as the city is deserted by fashionable 
people in summer, and one is not expected to make visits. The Imperial 
court goes away ; the Emperor has a palace at Yalta in the Crimea, and 
there he passes the autumn months, unless kept in St. Petersburg or 
Moscow by the affairs of the nation. They have some public festivities 



86 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



here in summer, but not generally, most of the matters of this kind being 
reserved for the winter." 

Boats were moving in all directions on the placid waters of the river, 
darting beneath the magnificent bridge that stretches across the stream, 
and carrying little parties, who sought recreation or were on errands of 
business." On the opposite side of the Neva, and beyond the Winter 
Palace, was the grim fortress of Sts. Peter and Paul, with whose history 
many tales of horror are connected, and where numerous prisoners of 
greater or less note have been confined. " It was there," said Doctor 
Bronson, "that Peter the Great caused his son Alexis to be put to death." 
" Caused his son to be put to death !" exclaimed the youths together. 
" Yes, it is generally believed that such was the case," the Doctor an- 
swered, "though the fact is not actually known. Alexis, the son of Peter 
the Great, was opposed to his father's reforms, and devotedly attached to 
the old superstitions and customs of Russia. Peter decided to exclude ' 
him from the throne ; the son consented, and announced his desire to 
enter a monasteiy, from which he managed to escape to Austria, where 
he sought the protection of the Emperor of that country. Peter sent 
one of his generals in pursuit of Alexis ; by a combination of threats and 
promises he was induced to return to St. Petersburg, where he was thrown 
into prison, and afterwards tried for high -treason and condemned to 
death. Peter pardoned but did not release him. On the 7th of July, 
1718, he died suddenly, and it was and is now generally believed that he 
was poisoned or beheaded by his father's order." 

" And was he really guilty of high-treason?" Fred asked. 
« According to Russian law and custom, and particularly according to 
the law and custom of Peter the Great, he certainly was," Doctor Bronson 
replied. " Remember, the Emperor is autocratic in his power, at least in 
theory, and in Peter's time he was so actually. " The will of the founder 
of the Russian Empire was law ; Alexis was opposed to that will, and con- 
sequently opposed to the Imperial law. The progress of Russia was more 
in the eyes of Peter than the life of any human being, not even excepting 
his own son, and the legitimate heir to the throne. The proceedings of 
the trial were published by Peter as a justification of his act. 

« Peter II., the son of Alexis and grandson of the great Peter, died 
suddenly, at the age of fifteen ; Peter III., grandchild of Peter the Great 
through his daughter Anna, was the husband of the Empress Catherine II. ; 
but his reign was very short. His life with Catherine was not the hap- 
piest in the world, and in less than eight months after he became Em- 
peror she usurped the throne, deposed her husband, and caused him to 



AN IMPERIAL MURDER. 



87 



be strangled. Catherine was a German princess, but declared herself 
thoroughly Russian when she came to reside in the Empire. If history is 
correct, she made a better ruler than the man she put aside, but this can 
be no justification of her means of attaining power. 

" Her son, Paul I., followed the fate of his father in being assassinated, 
but it was not by her orders. She brought him up in complete ignorance 




ASSASSINATION OF PETER III. 



of public affairs, and compelled him to live away from the Imperial court. 
Until her death, in 1796, she kept him in retirement, although she had 
his sons taken to court and educated under her immediate supervision. 
Treatment like this was calculated to make him whimsical and revengeful, 
and when he became emperor he tried to undo every act of his mother 
and those about her. He disbanded her armies, made peace with the 
countries with which she was at war, reversed her policy in everything, 
and became a most bitter tyrant towards his own people. He issued ab- 
surd orders, and at length his acts bordered on insanity. 

" A conspiracy was formed among some of the noblemen, who repre- 



88 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

sented to his son Alexander that it was necessary to secure the abdication 
of his father on the ground of incapacity. Late at night, March 23d, 
1801, they went to his bedroom and presented a paper for Him to sign. 
He refused, and was then strangled by the conspirators. Alexander L 




PAUL I. 

was proclaimed emperor, and the announcement of Paul's death was 
hailed with delight by his oppressed subjects. Among the foolish edicts 
he issued was one which forbade the wearing of round hats. Within an 
hour after his death became known, great numbers of round hats were to 
be seen on the streets. 

"You've had enough of the history of the Imperial family of Russia 
for the present," said the Doctor, after a pause, " and now we'll look at 
the people on the streets. It is getting late, and we'll go to the hotel, 
making our observations on the way. 

« Here are distinct types of the inhabitants of the Empire," the Doc- 
tor remarked, as they passed two men who seemed to be in animated con- 
versation. "The man with the round cap and long coat is a Russian 
peasant, while the one with the hood over his head and falling down to 
his shoulders is a Finn, or native of Finland." 

" How far is it from here to Finland ?" Frank asked. 

" Only over the river," the Doctor replied. " You cross the Neva to 



THE GOVERNMENT OF FINLAND. 



69 



its opposite bank, and you are in what was once the independent duchy 
of Finland, but has long been incorporated with Kussia. When Peter the 
Great came -here he did not like to be so near a foreign country, and so 
made up his mind to convert Finland into Russian territory. The inde- 
pendence of the duchy was maintained for some time, but in the early 
part of the present century Russia defeated the armies of Finland, and the 
country was permanently occupied. Finland has its constitution, which 
is based on that of Sweden, and when it was united with Russia the con- 
stitutional rights of the people were guaranteed. The country is ruled by 
a governor-general, who is appointed by Russia ; it has a parliament for 




RUSSIAN AND FINN. 



presenting the grievances and wishes of the people, but all acts must re- 
ceive the approval of the Imperial Government before they can become 
the law of the land." 

" What are those men standing in front of a building ?" said Fred, as 
he pointed to a fellow with a broom talking with another in uniform. 

" The one in uniform is a postman," was the reply, " and the other is a 
dvornik y or house guardian. The dvornik sweeps the sidewalk in front of 



90 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



a house and looks after the entrance ; he corresponds to the porter, or por- 
tier, of other countries, and is supposed to know the names of all the ten- 
ants of the building. The postman is reading an address on a letter, and 

the dvornih is probably point- 
ing in the direction of the 
room occupied by the person 
to whom the missive belongs." 

"I have read that letters in 
Russia are examined by the 
police before they are deliver- 
ed," said one of the boys. " Is 
that really the case ?" 

" Formerly it was, or at 
least they were liable to ex- 
amination, and it probably 
happens often enough at the 
present time. If a man is 
suspected of treasonable prac- 
tices his correspondence is lia- 
ble to be seized ; unless there 
is a serious charge against him, 
it is not detained after exam- 
ination, provided it contains 
nothing objectionable. The 
Post-office, like everything else 
in Russia, is a part of the mili- 
tary system, and if the Government wishes to do anything with the letters 
of its subjects it generally does it. The correspondence of foreigners is 
rarely meddled with. Writers for the foreign newspapers sometimes com- 
plain that their letters are lost in the mails, or show signs of having been 
opened, but 1 fancy that these cases are rare. For one, I haven't the least 
fear that our letters will be troubled, as we have no designs upon Russia 
other than to see it. If we were plotting treason, or had communications 
with Russian and Polish revolutionists in France or Switzerland, it is 
probable that the Government would not be long in finding it out." 

"What would happen to us, supposing that to be the case?" Frank 
inquired. 

"Supposing it to be so for the sake of argument," the Doctor an- 
swered, " our treatment would depend much upon the circumstances. If 
we were Russians, we should probably be arrested and imprisoned ; but as 




DVORNIK AND POSTMAN. 



EXPELLED FROM RUSSIA. 



91 



we are foreigners, we should be asked to leave the country. Unless the 
matter is very serious, the authorities do not like to meddle with foreign- 
ers in any way that will lead to a dispute with another government, and 
their quickest way out of the difficulty is to expel the obnoxious visitor." 
" How would they go to work to expel us ?" 

" An officer would call at our lodgings and tell us our passports were 
ready for our departure. He would probably say that the train for the 
frontier leaves at 11 a.m. to-morrow, and he would expect us to go by that 
train. If the case was urgent, he would probably tell us we must go by 
that train, and he would be at the hotel at ten o'clock to escort us to it. 
He would take us to the train and accompany us to the frontier, where 
lie would gracefully say good-by, and wish us a pleasant journey to our 
homes. If matters were less serious, he would allow us two or three days, 
perhaps a week, to close our affairs ; all would depend upon his orders, 
and whatever they were they would be carried out. 




LODGINGS AT THE FRONTIER. 



"Before the days of the railways objectionable parties were taken to 
the frontier in carriages or sleighs, the Government paying the expense of 
the posting ; and no matter what the hour of arrival at the boundary, they 
were set down and left to take care of themselves. An Englishman who 
had got himself into trouble with the Government in the time of the Em- 



92 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



peror Nicholas, tells liow lie was dropped just over tlie boundary in Prus- 
sia in the middle of a dark and rainy night, and left standing in the road 
with his baggage, fully a mile from any house. The officer who accom- 
panied him was ordered to escort him over the frontier, and did it exactly. 
Probably his passenger was a trifle obstinate, or he would not have been 
left in such a plight. A little politeness, and possibly a few shillings in 
money, would have induced the officer to bring him to the boundary in 
the daytime, and in the neighborhood of a habitation. 

" Expelled foreigners have rarely any cause to complain of the incivili- 
ty of their escorts. I know a Frenchman who was thus taken to the fron- 
tier after a notice of two days, and he told me that he could not have re- 
ceived greater civility if he had been the guest of the Emperor, and going 
to St. Petersburg instead of from it. He added that he tried to ontdo his 
guardians in politeness, and further admitted that he richly deserved ex- 
pulsion, as he had gone to the Empire on a revolutionary mission. On 
the whole, he considered himself fortunate to have escaped so easily." 

The conversation led to anecdotes about the police system of Russia, 
and at their termination our friends found themselves at the door of the 
hotel. Naturally, they shifted to other topics as soon as they were in the 
presence of others. It was an invariable rule of our friends not to dis- 
cuss in the hearing of any one else the politics of the countries they were 



visiting. 




ORDERED TO LEAVE RUSSIA. 



POPULATION OF THE EMPIRE. 



1)3 



CHAPTER V. 

NUMBER AND CHARACTER OF THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE.-PAN-SLAVIC UNION.-ST. 
ISAAC'S CHURCH. —ITS HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. — THE WINTER PALACE 
AND THE HERMITAGE. — SIGHTS IN THE PALACE. — CATHERINE'S RULES FOR 
HER RECEPTIONS.— JOHN PAUL JONES IN RUSSIA.— THE CROWN JEWELS AND 
THE ORLOFF DIAMOND.— ANECDOTES OF THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS.— RELICS OF 
PETER THE GREAT.— FROM PALACE TO PRISON.— TOMBS OF RUSSIA'S EMPER- 
ORS.— A MONUMENT AND AN ANECDOTE. 

W HEIST the subject of the police was dropped by our friends, Frank 
asked a- question about the Russian people and their origin. The 
Doctor answered that the topic was a broad one, as the Empire contained 
more than a hundred different nations and tribes of people, and that they 
spoke forty distinct languages. Many of the smaller tribes were assimi- 
lating with the Russians and losing their distinctiveness, even though they 
preserved their language ; but this was by no means the case throughout 
the Empire. 

" Not in Poland, I think, 11 said Frank, " judging by what we saw and 
heard, and probably not in Finland." 

"Quite right," added Doctor Bronson ; "and the same is the case with 
' the German population in the Baltic provinces. Though they have long 
been an integral part of the Empire, there are thousands of the inhab- 
itants who cannot speak Russian, and refuse to teach it to their children. 
They are less revolutionary in their ways than the Poles, but none the less 
desirous of preserving their national characteristics. 

" The population of Russia is about one hundred millions," he contin- 
ued, "and it is spread over an area of nearly if not quite seven million 
square miles of land. Russia occupies about one-eighth of the land sur- 
face of the globe, but is very thinly inhabited. European Russia, in- 
cluding Poland, Finland, and other provinces, covers two millions of square 
miles, while Siberia, or European Asia, extends over at least five millions. 
This does not include the disputed territory of the last few years in Cen- 
tral Asia. It is pretty certain to come under the rule of the Emperor, and 
will add another half -million, if not more, to his dominions. 

"The inhabitants are very unevenly distributed, as they average one 



94 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE KUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

hundred and twenty-seven to the square mile in Poland, and less than two 
to the mile in Asiatic Kussia. About sixty millions belong to the Slavic 
race, which includes the Eussians and Poles, and also a few colonies of 




FINLAND PEASANTS IN HOLIDAY COSTUME. 

Servians and Bulgarians, which amount in all to less than one hundred 
thousand. The identity of the Servians and Bulgarians with the Slavic 
race has been the excuse, if not the reason, for the repeated attempts of 
Eussia to unite Servia, Bulgaria, and the other Danubian principalities 



PAN-SLAVIC UNION. 



95 



with the grand Empire. The union of the Slavic people under one gov- 
ernment has been the dream of the emperors of Russia for a long time, 
and what could be a better union, they argue, than their absorption into 
our own nation V 

Fred asked who the Slavs were, and whence they came. 

" According to those who have studied the subject," Doctor Bronson 
answered, " they were anciently known as Scythians or Sarmatians. Their 




INHABITANTS OF SOUTHERN RUSSIA. 



early history is much obscured, but they seem to have had their centre 
around the Carpathian Mountains, whence they spread to the four points 
of the compass. On the north they reached to the Baltic ; westward, they 
went to the banks of the Elbe ; southward, beyond the Danube ; and 
eastward, their progress was impeded by the Tartar hordes of Asia, and 



96 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



they did not penetrate far into Siberia until comparatively recent times. 
With their extension they split up into numerous tribes and independent 
organizations ; thus their unity was lost, and they took the form in which 
we find them to-day. Poles and Russians are both of the same race, and 
their languages have a common origin ; but nowhere in the world can be 
found two people who hate each other more heartily. However much 
the Russians have favored a Pan-Slavist union, you may be sure the Poles 
look on it with disfavor, 

" The ancient Slavonic language has given way to the modern forms 
in the same way that Latin has made way for French, Italian, Spanish, 




st. Isaac's church and admiralty square. 



and other tongues and dialects with a Latin origin. In fact those lan- 
guages hold the same relation to Latin that Polish, Russian, Servian, and 
Bulgarian hold towards ancient Slavonic. The Romish Church uses Latin 
in its service, and the Russo-Greek Church uses the old Slavonic ; the 
Poles, Bohemians, and others have adopted the Roman alphabet, but the 
Russians use the Slavonic characters in a modified form. The Russian 
alphabet has thirty-six letters, some being Roman, others Greek, and oth- 
ers Slavonic. After you have learned the alphabet and can spell out the 



THE CHURCH OF ST. ISAAC. 



97 



signs on the shops and street corners, I'll tell you more about the lan- 
guage." 

It was getting late, and the party broke up a few minutes after the 
foregoing conversation. Before they separated, Doctor Bronson suggested 
to the youths that he should expect them to read up the history of Rus- 
sia, and not forget the Romanoff family. " The Romanoffs," said he, "are 
the reigning family of Russia, just as the Guelphs are of England and the 
Hapsburgs of Austria." 

It was speedily arranged that Frank would devote special attention to 
the first-named subject, while Fred would assume the responsibilities of 
the latter. " And while you are on the subject," the Doctor added, turn- 
ing to Fred, " see if you can find about the origin of the Orloff family, 
which is one of the most interesting traditions that has been handed 
down." 

Fred promised, and the party separated for the night. 

They were all up in good season the next morning, and after a substan- 
tial breakfast, in which the samovar had a prominent place, they set out 
for a round of sight-seeing in the modern capital of Russia. 

Returning to Admiralty Square, they visited the Church of St. Isaac, 
accompanied by the guide they had engaged at the hotel. The man was 
of Russian birth, and spoke English with considerable fluency. Evidently 
he understood his business, as he told the history of the sacred edifice with 
a careful adherence to dates. 

" Peter the Great built a wooden church on this very spot," said the 
guide, "in 1710, but it was destroyed by fire. Afterwards the great Cath- 
erine erected another, which was finished in 1801 ; but it only remained 
eighteen years. The present building was begun in 1819, and its corn- 
pletion took nearly forty years. It was consecrated in 1858, and is con- 
sidered the finest church in the Empire." 

" The last statement might be disputed by some of the citizens of Mos- 
cow," said the Doctor to the youths, " but there is no question about the 
church being the finest in St. Petersburg. Observe its admirable propor- 
tions," he continued. "It is in the form of a Greek cross, with its four 
sides of equal length, and the architect who planned it certainly had a 
correct eye for his work." 

" You observe," said the guide, " that each of the four entrances is ap- 
proached by three flights of stone steps, leading up from the level of the 
square. Each of these flights of steps is cut from a single block of Fin- 
land granite." 

The youths made note of this fact as they wondered how the huge 

7 



98 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

masses of stone were brought from their quarries ; and they also noted 
that the four entrances of the church were between pillars of granite sixty 
feet high and seven feet in diameter, polished to the smoothness of a mir- 
ror. An immense dome forms the centre of the edifice. It is of iron, 
covered on the outside with copper, and this copper is heavily plated with 




PRIEST OP THE CHURCH OP ST. ISAAC. 



pure gold. It is the dome which first caught the eyes of the travellers as 
they approached the city, and forms an important landmark from every 
direction. The cupola rests on thirty granite pillars, which look small 
enough when seen from below, but are really of great size. 

In the inside of the church are paintings by Kussian artists, and there 
are two columns of malachite fifty feet high, and of proportionate diame- 
ter—the largest columns of this costly mineral anywhere in the world. 
Immense quantities of malachite, lapis-lazuli, and other valuable stones are 
used in the decoration of the church, and our friends thought that if there 
was anything to criticise it was the great amount of ornamentation and 
gilding in the interior. " But I have no doubt," wrote Fred in his note- 
book, "that this display has its effect upon the worshippers in the church, 



HERMITAGE AND WINTER PALACE. 



99 



and particularly among the poor peasants and all others of the humbler 
classes. In all the countries we have visited, whether of the Christian, 
Moslem, Buddhist, or other faith, we have found the religious edifices 
adorned in the most costly manner, and there is no reason why Russia 
should form an exception to the general rule. Many of the paintings, 
columns, and others decorations of this church were the gift of wealthy 
Russians, while others were paid for by the contributions of the people, 
or from the funds in Government hands." 

From the Church of St. Isaac our friends went to the Hermitage 
and the Winter Palace, the latter being named in contradistinction to the 
Summer Palace, which is at Tsarskoe-Selo, a few miles from the capital. 
We will see what the youths had to say of their visit to these edifices. 
Fred will tell the story. 

" To describe all we saw there would take a fair-sized volume," said 
Fred, " and we will only tell what impressed us most. The palace was 
built in a great hurry, to take the place of the one that was burned in 
1837. It was ready for occupation 
in 1839 ; and when you know that 
it is four hundred and fifty feet long 
by three hundred and fifty wide, 
and rises to a height of eighty feet, 
you will agree with us that the 
Russians are to be praised for their 
energy. Our guide had procured 
the necessary ticket for admittance, 
and we passed in through an enor- 
mous gateway opposite the Column 
of Alexander. Two servants in 
livery showed us through the halls 
and galleries, and for hours we wan- 
dered among pictures which repre- 
sent the victories of Russia over its 
enemies, and amid costly furniture 
and adornments, till our feet and 
eyes were weary. The Throne- 
room of Peter the Great is one of the finest of the apartments, and the 
Hall of St. George is the largest. It measures one hundred and forty feet 
by sixty, and is the scene of the grand balls and receptions which the Em- 
peror gives on state occasions. There is a beautiful apartment, known as 
the drawing-room of the Empress. Its walls and ceiling are gilded, and 




100 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



the whole work about it seems to have been done without regard to 
expense. 

" One of the halls contains portraits of the rulers of Eussia from Peter 
the Great down to the present time ; another, the portraits of the generals 
who fought against the French in 1812 ; another, the portraits of all the 
field-marshals of the armies by which Napoleon was conquered ; and oth- 
ers, the battle-scenes before mentioned. I observed that Eussia was not 
unlike France, Germany, and other countries in representing very promi- 
nently the battles where she triumphed, and ignoring those where she was 
defeated. The guide told us that at the state balls in the palace sit-down 
suppers are provided for all the guests, even if there are two or three 
thousand of them. Sometimes the supper-hall is converted into a garden 
by means of trees brought from greenhouses. The guests sit at table be- 
neath the foliage, and can easily forget that they are in the middle of a 
Eussian winter. 

"Doctor Bronson says the Eussians are very fond of plants in their 
dwellings, the wealthy expending large sums on greenhouses and conserv- 
atories, and the poorer people indulging in flower-pots, which they place 
in all available spots. The wealthy frequently pay enormous prices for 
rare exotics. We have seen a good many flower-stores along the Nevski 
Prospect and in other streets, and are ready to believe that the Eussians 
are great admirers of floral products. Their long, cold, and cheerless win- 
ters lead them to prize anything that can remind them of the summer 
season. 

" At the entrance of one of the halls there is a tablet on which are the 
rules which Catherine II. established for the informal parties she used to 
have at the Hermitage. Catherine had literary aspirations, and her parties 
were in imitation of the salons of Paris, which have a wide celebrity. 
Here is a translation of the rules, which I take from Murray's 'Hand- 
book :' 

" ' 1 Leave your rank outside, as well as your hat, and especially your sword. 
'"2. Leave your right of precedence, your pride, and any similar feeling, outside the 
door. 

" « 3. Be gay, but do not spoil anything; do not break or gnaw anything. 
" '4. Sit, stand, walk as you will, without reference to anybody. 

" ' 5. Talk moderately and not very loud, so as not to make the ears and heads of oth- 
ers ache. 

" ' 6. Argue without anger and without excitement. 

" ' 7, Neither sigh nor yawn, nor make anybody dull or heavy. 

'"8. In all innocent games, whatever one proposes, let all join. 

"'9. Eat whatever is sweet and savory, but drink with moderation, so that each may 
find his legs on leaving the room. 




RECEPTION OF JOHN PAUL JONES BY THE EMPRESS CATHERINE. 



102 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



" ' 10. Tell no tales out of school; whatever goes in at one ear must go out at the other 
before leaving the room. 

" ' A transgressor against these rules shall, on the testimony of two witnesses, for every 
offence drink a glass of cold water, not excepting the ladies, and further read a page of 
the " Telemachiade " aloud. 

" 'Whoever breaks any three of these rules during the same evening shall commit six 
lines of the " Telemachiade " to memory. 

" ' And whoever offends against the tenth rule shall not again be admitted.' 

"The 'Telemachiade' which is prescribed as a penance was the work 
of a Russian poet of Catherine's time, who does not seem to have enjoyed 
the Imperial favor. It is said that invitations to these parties were much 
sought ; but, in spite of all her efforts, the Empress could not induce her 
guests to forget entirely that she was their sovereign. However, she man- 
aged to make her parties much less formal than anything ever known be- 
fore at the Imperial Palace, and this was a great deal to accomplish in such 
a time and in such a country. 

" I may remark, by-the-way, that the Empress Catherine was the first 
sovereign of Russia to invite an American officer into the Imperial serv- 
ice. That officer was the celebrated John Paul Jones, a Scotchman by 
birth but an American citizen at the time of the Revolutionary war. The 
havoc he wrought upon the British fleets attracted the attention of the 
Russian Government, and after our war was over he received an intimation 
that he could find employment with the armies of the Empress. He went 
to St. Petersburg, was received by Catherine at a special audience, and 
accorded the rank of admiral in the Imperial Navy. Russia was then at 
war with Turkey. Admiral Jones was sent to command the Russian fleet 
in the Black Sea, and operate against the Turkish fleet, which he did in 
his old way. 

" The Russians were besieging a town which was held by the Turks, 
who had a fleet of ships supporting their land-forces. Jones dashed in 
among the Turkish vessels with a boarding-party in small boats, backed 
by the guns of his ships and those of the besieging army. He captured 
two of the Turkish galleys, one of them belonging to the commander of 
the fleet, and made such havoc among the enemy that the latter was 
thoroughly frightened. Unfortunately, Jones incurred the displeasure of 
Potemkin, the Prime-minister, and favorite of the Empress, and shortly 
after the defeat of the fleet he was removed from command and sent to 
the Baltic, where there was no enemy to operate against. 

" But I am neglecting the palace in following the career of an Amer- 
ican in the service of Russia. 



THE ORLOFF DIAMOND. 



103 



"We asked to see the crown jewels of Russia, and the guide took us 
to the room where they are kept. One of the most famous diamonds of 
the world, the Orloff, is among them, and its history is mixed up with a 
good deal of fable. The most authentic story about this diamond seems 




RUSSIAN ATTACK ON THE TURKISH GALLEY. 



to be that it formed the eye of an idol in a temple in India, whence it was 
stolen by a French soldier, who sold it for two thousand guineas. It then 
came to Europe, and after changing hands several times was bought by 
Prince Orloff, who presented it to the Empress Catherine. The Prince is 



101 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

said to have given for the diamond four hundred and fifty thousand 
rubles (about four hundred thousand dollars), a life annuity of two thou- 
sand rubles, and a patent of nobility. It weighs more than the famous 
Koh-i-noor of England, but is not as fine a stone. There is a faint tinge of 
yellow that depreciates it considerably, and there is also a flaw in the in- 
terior of the stone, though only perceptible on a careful examination. 

" The Imperial crown of Russia is the most interesting crown we have 
anywhere seen. •The guide told us how much it was worth in money, but 
I've forgotten, the figures being so large that my head wouldn't contain 

them. There are rubies, diamonds, and pearls 
in great profusion, the diamonds alone being 
among the most beautiful in the world. There 
are nearly, if not quite, a hundred large dia- 
monds in the crown, not to mention the smaller 
ones that fill the spaces where large ones could 
not go. The coronet of the Empress is an- 
the orloff diamond. other mass of precious stones worth a long 

journey to see. There are other jewels here of 
great value, among them a plume or aigrette, which was presented to Gen- 
eral Suwarroff by the Sultan of Turkey. It is covered with diamonds 
mounted on wires that bend with each movement of the wearer. What 
a sensation Suwarroff must have made when he walked or rode with this 
plume in his hat ! 

"From the crown jewels we went to a room whose history is con- 
nected with a scene of sadness— the death of the Emperor Nicholas. It 
is the smallest and plainest room of the palace, without any adornment, 
and containing an iron bedstead such as we find in a military barrack. 
His cloak, sword, and helmet are where he left them, and on the table is 
the report of the quartermaster of the household troops, which had been 
delivered to the Emperor on the morning of March 2, 1855, the date of 
his death. Everything is just as he left it, and a soldier of the Grenadier 
Guards is constantly on duty over the relics of the Iron Czar. 

" If what we read of him is true, he possessed one characteristic of 
Peter the Great— that of having his own way, more than any other Em- 
peror of modern times. He ascended the throne in the midst of a revo- 
lution which resulted in the defeat of the insurgents. They assembled in 
Admiralty Square, and after a brief resistance were fired upon by the 
loyal soldiers of the Empire. Five of the principal conspirators were 
hanged after a long and searching trial, during which Nicholas was con- 
cealed behind a screen in the court-room, and listened to all that was said. 




ANECDOTES OF NICHOLAS I. 



105 



Two hundred of the others were sent to Siberia for life, and the soldiers 
who had simply obeyed the orders of their leaders were distributed among 
other regiments than those in which they had served. 

" Through his whole reign Nicholas was an enemy to free speech or 
free writing, and his rule was severe to the last degree. What he ordered 
it was necessary to perform, no matter what the difficulties were in the 
way, and a failure was, in his eyes, little short of a crime. He decided 
questions very rapidly, and often w T ith a lack of common-sense. When the 
engineers showed him the plans of the Moscow and St. Petersburg Rail- 
way, and asked where the line should run, he took a ruler, drew on the map 
a line from one city to the other, and said that should be the route. As a 
consequence, the railway is very nearly straight for the whole four hun- 
dred miles of its course, and does not pass any large towns like the rail- 
ways in other countries. 

"A more sensible anecdote about him relates an incident of the 
Crimean war, when the Governor of Moscow ordered the pastor of the 
English Church in that city to 
omit the portion of the service 
which prays for the success of 
British arms. The pastor ap- 
pealed the case to the Emperor, 
who asked if those words were 
in the regular service of the 
English Church. On being an- 
swered in the affirmative, he 
told the pastor to continue to 
read the service jast as it was, 
and ordered the governor to 
make no further interference. 

"His disappointment at the 
defeat of his armies in the Cri- 
mean war was the cause of his 
death, quite as much as the in- 
fluenza to which it is attributed. 
On the morning of his last day 
he received news of the repulse 
of the Russians at Eupatoria, and he is said to have died while in a fit of 
anger over this reverse. Though opposed to the freedom of the Press and 
people, he advised the liberation of the serfs ; and before he died he urged 
his son and successor to begin immediately the work of emancipation. 




106 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



" The Hermitage is close to the palace, and is large enough of itself 
for the residence of an emperor of medium importance, and certainly for 
a good-sized king. The present building is the successor of one which 
was built for the Empress Catherine as a refuge from the cares of State, 
and hence was called the Hermitage. It is virtually a picture-gallery and 



museum, as the walls of the interior are covered with pictures, and there 
are collections of coins, gems, Egyptian antiquities, and other things dis- 
tributed through the rooms. 

« The room of greatest interest to us in the Hermitage was that con- 
taining the relics of Peter the Great. There were the turning-lathes 
whereon he worked, the knives and chisels with which he carved wood 
into various forms, together with specimens of his wood-carving. His 
telescopes, drawing - instruments, walking-stick, saddle, and other things 
are all here, and in the centre of the room is an effigy which shows him 
to have been a man of giant stature, as does also a wooden rod which is 
said to be the one with which he was actually measured. There is a car- 
riage in which he drove about the city, the horse he rode at the battle of 
Pultowa, and several of his favorite dogs, all stuffed and preserved, but 
not in the highest style of the taxidermist. There are casts taken after 
Peter's death, several portraits in oil and one in mosaic, and a cast taken 




PETER III. 



FROM PALACE TO PRISON. 



107 



during life, and presented by Peter to his friend Cardinal Yalenti at 
Rome. It was missing for a long time, but was finally discovered about 
the middle of this century by a patriotic Russian, who bought it and pre- 
sented it to the gallery. 

" There is a clock in the same room which is said to have contained at 
one time the draft of a constitution which Catherine the Great intended 
giving to her people. Immediately after her death her son and successor, 
Paul, rushed to the clock in her 
bedroom, drew out the paper, 
and destroyed it. At least this 
is the tradition; and whether 
true or not, it is worth knowing, 
as it illustrates the character of 
Paul I." 

Our friends imitated the 
course of many an Imperial fa- 
vorite, not only in Russia, but 
in other countries, by going 
from a palace to a prison, but 
with the difference in their case 
that the step was voluntary. 

As they crossed the bridge 
leading from the Winter Palace 
in the direction of the grim for- 
tress of Sts. Peter and Paul, 
Doctor Bronson told the youths 
that Peter the Great shut up 
his sister in a convent and exiled 
her minister, Prince Galitzin. 
" Since his time," the Doctor 
continued, " his example has 
been followed by nearly every 
sovereign of Russia, and a great 
many persons, men and worn- Circassian arms as trophies of battle. 

en, have ended their lives in 

prison or in exile who once stood high in favor at the Imperial court. 
Catherine w T as accustomed to dispose of the friends of whom she had 
wearied by sending them to live amid Siberian snows, and the Emperor 
Paul used to condemn people to prison or to exile on the merest caprice. 
Even at the present day the old custom is not unknown." 




108 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



« We were not admitted to the cells of the fortress," said Frank, in his 
account of the visit to the place, " as it was ' contrary to orders,' according 
to the guide's explanation. But we were shown through the cathedral 
where the rulers of Eussia from the time of Peter the Great have been 
buried, with the exception of Peter II., who was buried at Moscow, where 

he died. The tombs are less elabo- 
rate than we expected to find them, 
and the walls of the church are hung 
profusely with flags, weapons of war, 
and other trophies of battle. The 
tombs mark the positions of the 
graves, which are beneath the floor 
of the cathedral. Naturally the 
tombs that most attracted our atten- 
tion were those of the rulers who 
have been most famous in the his- 
tory of Pussia. 

"We looked first at the burial- 
place of the great Peter, then at that 
of Catherine II., and afterwards at 
the tomb of Nicholas I. ; then we 
sought the tomb of Alexander II., 
who fell at the hands of Nihilist 
assassins, and after a brief stay in 
the church returned to the open air. 
The building is more interesting for 
its associations than for the artistic 
merit of its interior. Its spire is 
the tallest in the Empire, with the 
exception of the tower of the church 
at Eevel, on the Baltic coast. From 
the level of the ground to the top 
of the cross is three hundred and eighty-seven feet, which is twenty-six 
feet higher than St. Paul's in London. 

" The spire alone is one hundred and twenty-eight feet high, and very 
slender in shape. It was erected more than a hundred years ago, and the 
church itself dates almost from the time of the foundation of the city. 
Fifty or more years ago the angel and cross on the top of the spire 
threatened to fall, and a Kussian peasant offered to repair them for two 
hundred rubles. By means of a rope and a few nails, he climbed to the 




STATUE OF NICHOLAS L 



THE DOUBLE-HEADED EAGLE. 



109 



top of the spire and performed the work, and nobody will say he did not 
earn his money. A single misstep, or the slightest accident, would have 
dashed him to certain death. 

"When we left the church and fortress," continued Frank, "we felt 
that we had had enough for the day of that kind of sight-seeing, so we 
drove through some of the principal streets and went to the Gostinna 
Dvor, where we wished to see the curiosities of the place and make a few 
purchases. 

"Near St. Isaac's Church we passed the famous equestrian statue of 
the Emperor Nicholas, in which the sculptor succeeded in balancing the 
horse on his hind feet without utilizing the tail, as was done in the case of 
the statue of Peter the Great. The Emperor is in the uniform of the 
Horse Guards. The pedestal is formed of blocks of granite of different 
colors, and there are bronze reliefs on the four sides representing incidents 
in the Emperor's life and career. On the upper part of the pedestal at 
each of the corners are emblematical figures, and just beneath the forefeet 
of the horse is a fine representation of the Imperial eagle. The whole 
work is surrounded with an iron fence to preserve it from injury, and 
altogether the statue is one of which the city may well be proud." 

While the party were looking at the Imperial arms just mentioned, 
Fred asked why the eagle of Russia is represented with two heads. 

"It indicates the union of the Eastern and Western empires," the 
Doctor answered, " the same as does the double-headed eagle of Austria. 
The device was adopted about four centuries ago by Ivan III., after his 
marriage with Sophia, a princess of the Imperial blood of Constantinople. 

" By-the-way," the Doctor continued, " there's a story of an Imperial 
grand-duke who went one day on a hunting excursion, the first of his life, 
and fired at a large bird which rose before him. The bird fell, and was 
brought by a courtier to the noble hunter. 

" ' Your Imperial Highness has killed an eagle,' said the courtier, bow- 
ing low and depositing the prey on the ground. 

" The grand-duke looked the bird over carefully, and then turned away 
with disdain. ' That's no eagle,' said he, ' it has only one head.' " 

What our young friends saw in the Gostinna Dvor will be told in the 
next chapter. 

i 



110 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



CHAPTEK VI. 

THE GOSTINNA DVOR. — ITS EXTENT AND CHARACTER. — PECULIARITY OF RUSSIAN 
SHOPPING. — CURIOUS CUSTOMS.— OLD-CLOTHES MARKET.— HAY-MARKET.— PIG- 
EONS IN RUSSIAN CITIES.— FROZEN ANIMALS.— CHURCH AND MONASTERY OF ST. 
ALEXANDER NEVSKI. — A PERSIAN TRAIN. — A COFFIN OF SOLID SILVER— THE 
SUMMER GARDEN.— SPEAKING TO THE EMPEROR.— KRILOFF AND HIS FABLES.— 
VISIT TO A RUSSIAN THEATRE.—" A LIFE FOR THE CZAR."— A RUSSIAN COMEDY. 

BEFORE I describe the Gostinna Dvor of St. Petersburg," said Fred 
in his note-book, " let me premise by saying that every Russian city 
or town has an establishment of the same kind. It is a good deal more 
than the market-place with us, and seems to combine the bazaars of the 
East with the shops of the West. In an ordinary town the Gostinna 
Dvor occupies a single large building at or near the centre of population ; 
the larger the town or city the greater will be the commercial needs of 
the people, and consequently a city like Moscow or St. Petersburg will 
have a Gostinna Dvor that dwarfs all ordinary markets into insignificance. 

"The one at St. Petersburg occupies an enormous building, which 
might almost be called a series of buildings, fronting on the ISTevski Pros- 
pect, but entered also from other streets. There are said to be ten thou- 
sand merchants and their employes in the building, and certainly the num- 
ber is little if any exaggerated. We walked among the rows of shops till 
our feet ached with weariness, and still there were many other rows of 
shops to be visited. Sometimes the shopmen were importunate, but usu- 
ally they did not disturb us unless we stopped to look at something. The 
building is two stories high, the lower floor being used for retail purposes 
and the upper for the storage of goods. Owing to the danger of a con- 
flagration and the great destruction that would ensue, we were told that 
no fire is allowed here in winter. Then the merchants and their clerks 
wear furs and thick clothing when at their business, and shoppers are not 
expected to lay aside their wraps while making purchases. 

" 4 What do you buy in the Gostinna Dvor V I hear some one asking. 
"'Everything that one could wear or use in Russia,' I should reply, 
' together with a great many things whose use it would be impossible to 
imagine.' Some one writing on this subject says you may come naked 



THE GOSTINNA DVOR. 



Ill 



into the Gostinna Dvor, bringing only a pocket-book stuffed with money, 
and leave it in an hour dressed in whatever garments you choose, wear all 
the jewellery your tastes may dictate, and ride away in a coach drawn by 
four horses, with driver and footmen in livery, all obtained in the building 
we are now visiting, or in one of its annexes. Nay, more ; you can en- 
gage a residence of palatial character from accommodating house agents 
stationed here, and furnish it completely from the stock on hand in the 
Gostinna Dvor. Pictures, chairs, sofas, curtains, tapestry, kitchen utensils, 
library, anything and everything you want, are all ready for sale, and only 
await purchasers. Your wife and children, ' sisters, cousins, and aunts,' 




POLITENESS IN THE MARKET-PL ACK. 



can here be provided with wardrobes, elaborate or economical, as your 
purse will justify, and so with all the servants of the household, regardless 
of their number. 

« Officers of every grade, rank, and arm of the service can be uni- 
formed here, and their garments may be brand-new, second-hand, or so old 
that they will subject the wearer to punishment on account of his shabbi- 
ness. Decorations are to be bought, at least the insignia thereof, and the 



112 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



seller will ask no questions. The purchaser wears them at his peril if he 
does not possess the proper diplomas, since the unauthorized wearing of 
decorations is as serious a matter in Eussia as in other Continental coun- 
tries. The Emperor Nicholas was fond of visiting the Gostinna Dvor ac- 
companied by a single orderly. One day he saw a young officer wistfully 
eying a decoration in one of the windows, and told the orderly to ascer- 
tain his name. Inquiry showed that the officer stood well with his supe- 
riors, was faithful in the performance of his duties, and the result was he 
received the coveted bauble directly from the hand of the Emperor. 

« Perhaps you wonder why the Russian market is so extensive, and 
what must be the habits of the people to sustain such a commerce. This 
is the way it is explained : 

" A Russian rarely buys anything till just as he wants it, and then he 
cannot wait to have it made. In England or America a man desiring to 
furnish a fine house would be weeks or months collecting his furniture, 
ordering some to be made, and buying the rest from time to time when 
he found what suited him. Under similar circumstances, a Russian drives 
to the Gostinna Dvor, and makes his selections from what he finds there. 

» The Russians are said to be more capricious than people of other 
nationalities in the matter of their movements from place to place. A 
wealthy Russian will fit up a house at great expense, buying his furniture 
in the manner described. In a few months he decides to travel for his 
health, or go to the country, and the whole equipment is sent to the Gos- 
tinna Dvor and sold for what it will bring. It may be so little used that 
it can be sold again by the dealer as new, and of course the dealer makes a 
large profit on the transaction. When the man comes back to the city 
he furnishes anew, and thus the business of the bazaar is maintained. 
Fortunes come and go very quickly in Russia, and so the work of fitting 
and dismantling is continuous. 

« The best goods are in the Gostinna Dvor proper, while the inferior 
ones are in the annexes. Some of the shops have fixed prices, but in 
most of them there is a system of bargaining which is not agreeable to 
the traveller from the Occident. He is never certain that he has paid the 
proper price, even when he has brought the merchant down to what ap- 
pears to be his lowest figure. 

" We bought a few articles of Russian manufacture to send home to 
our friends. Among them were samovars, inlaid goods from Tula, em- 
broidered slippers and sashes from the Tartar provinces, malachite and 
lapis-lazuli jewellery, and some Circassian ornaments of silver. Many of 
the articles sold in the Gostinna Dvor are of English, German, and French 



THE FROZEN MARKET. 



113 



manufacture, which are largely increased in price owing to the duties 
placed upon them by the custom-house. 

" Our guide directed us from the rear of the building along the 
Bolshoia Sadovaia, or Great Garden Street, which is a, line of shops and 




IMPORTUNING A VISITOR. 



bazaars, to the Sennaia Ploshad, or Hay-market. This is a large open 
place or square, which is less interesting now than in winter. In summer 
it is devoted to the sale of hay and live-stock, but in winter it is filled 
not only with the hay, grain, and live-stock of summer, but with frozen 
animals, which form the principal food of the inhabitants of the city. 
Here is what one traveller has written about the frozen market : 

" ' On one side you see a collection of frozen sheep— stiff, ghastly ob- 
f&. 8 ■ 



Ill THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

jects some poised on their hoofs like the wooden animals in a child's 

" Noah's Ark ;" others on their sides, with their legs projecting at right 
angles to their bodies ; others, again, on their backs, with their feet in the 
air like inverted tables. The oxen are only less grotesque from having 
been cleft down their backs — an operation which seems to take them ont 




FROZEN ANIMALS IN THE MARKET. 



of the category of oxen and place them in that of beef. The pigs are 
drawn up in line against the wall, standing on their hind legs, with their 
forefeet extended above their heads, like trick-dogs going through their 
performances. 

" ' The partridges, quails, grouse, wood-hens, and other birds are lying 
together in a frozen mass, and by their side are ducks and geese with 
outstretched necks so straight and stiff that you might take one of these 
harmless creatures by the bill and, using it as a bludgeon, knock down 
your enemy with its body. The fowls have been plucked, plunged into 
water, and left to freeze ; thus they are completely encased in ice, and in 
that condition will keep for any length of time as long as the weather con- 
tinues cold.' 



PIGEONS IN RUSSIA. 



115 



" Frozen fish are piled in heaps like stove-wood, and frozen cabbages 
are rolled around like cannon-shot. A calf stands in front of a butcher's 
stall in the attitude of walking away, but an examination shows that he is 
hard as a stone, and may have been standing there for weeks. Milk is 
sold in bricks, with a stick or string frozen into one corner ; the purchaser 
may carry it home by means of this improvised handle, or he may wrap 
it in paper or his handkerchief. In fact everything that can be frozen 
yields to the frost, and the Russians find it a most convenient form of 
preservation. One of the odd sights of the frozen market is the itinerant 
vender of sucking-pigs, who carries these articles of trade hung around 
his neck or waist, as though they were ornaments rather than merchandise. 

"There is a market for old clothes which reminded us of Chatham 
Street, in New York. The dealers had little stalls where the garments 
were exposed for sale, and there were a good many peddlers who walked 
about with the goods they desired to dispose of. The old-clothes market 
of St. Petersburg is said to be inferior to that of Moscow in the number 
and character of the Israelitish merchants in whose hands the business is 
concentrated. The one at Moscow is also called the Elbow-market, on 
account of the continued elbowing of those who go there. Though peo- 
ple were crowded closely together when we were in the market, we saw no 
indications of anything but good-nature. The Russians are polite to each 
other as well as to strangers, and it was amusing to see how the rough 
fellows, when meeting face to face, bowed as though, they were great per- 
sonages. 

" And such flocks of pigeons as were flying all about ! They tell us 
there are many more of them in winter than in summer, as the birds are 
then driven to the towns and cities to find their food. The Hay-market is 
their favorite resort, since grain as w T ell as hay is sold there, and the 
pigeons manage to get off with all that is scattered on the ground. 

" The pigeon or dove in Russia is a sacred bird. The Russians say 
that as the dove brought the olive-branch to the Ark, he should not be 
harmed, and it would be a great offence to kill one of these birds in the 
presence of an orthodox member of the Church. But all the grain that is 
scattered from the feed of the horses and in the market-place is not suffi- 
cient for the sustenance of the pigeons ; many kind-hearted persons throw 
quantities of grain to them every morning, and not ^infrequently it hap- 
pens that a pious Russian will spend a considerable part of his income in 
this way. Kriloff, the Russian fable writer, is said to have supported all 
the pigeons of the Gostinna Dvor for some time at his own expense, or, 
more properly speaking, at that of his creditors. 



116 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



" There are a great many magpies and crows mingling with the pig- 
eons, and evidently considering themselves just as respectable. Pigeons, 
crows, and magpies fill the belfries of many of the churches, but not of all, 
and nobody seems able to say why they make the distinction. Some of 




MARKICT FOR OLD CLOTHES. 



the churches are fairly thronged with them, and they keep up a perpetual 
flutter around the roof from sunrise to sunset. 

» There is a story that the magpies were driven out of Moscow by one 
of the priests under the following circumstances : The high-priest, or met- 
ropolitan, was about to lay the foundation of a new church, and when he 
reached the part of the ceremony where the mortar was to be placed on 
the stone, the golden trowel which had been brought for the occasion 



ST. ALEXANDER NEVSKL 



117 



could not be found. A workman standing near was accused of the theft, 
and as nobody else could have stolen the trowel, the man was sent to Si- 
beria. Some weeks later the precious tool was found by the bell-ringers 
in the great tower in the Kremlin, where it had been carried by a thieving 
magpie. The man was pardoned, and compensated for his suffering ; the 
metropolitan placed the curse of the Church on the magpie, and there- 
upon all the magpies in Moscow new away, and have not since been near 
the city. The story is told by the author of £ The Russians at Home,' and 
he adds that the magpies really do keep at a respectful distance from the 
ancient capital of Russia, and thus vouch for the truth of the story." 

From the Gostinna Dvor our friends drove to the church and monas- 
tery of St. Alexander Nevski, at the extreme end of the Nevski Prospect. 
It occupies a large area enclosed by high walls, and is said to be on the 
exact spot where the Grand-duke Alexander defeated the Swedes, about 
a.d. 1241. In due time he was canonized, and became St. Alexander. He 
was buried at Vladimir, where his remains rested until after the founding 
of St. Petersburg. 

Peter the Great caused the bones of the saint to be transported to the 
new city on the banks of the Neva. St. Alexander became St. Alexander 
Nevski'( u of the Neva"), and the church and monastery were established. 
One night the monks in charge of the church took the bones of the saint 
and started for Vladimir, declaring they had been told in a vision that the 
saint was not resting peacefully in the marshy soil of the new capital. 
Peter was not a man to be thwarted in his designs. He sent word to 
the monks that unless they returned immediately, bringing the bones with 
them, they would lose their heads. Knowing the man they had to deal 
with, they straightway had a new vision, which accorded with the wishes 
of the imperious Czar. They took the road back to St. Petersburg with- 
out delay, and sought and obtained the pardon of their august master. 
Hear what Fred has to say about the church and its surroundings : 
" The original church was of wood," writes Fred, " and was built about 
1712 ; it was torn down a few years later, and replaced with a church of 
stone. The sovereigns of Russia each added something to the building 
and its surroundings, and the present cathedral was built by Catherine the 
Great. The work was done at great expense. Marble was brought from 
Italy for the interior decorations, and the malachite, lapis-lazuli, and other 
costly minerals were brought from Siberia and Persia. Some of the 
paintings are by Russian artists, and the rest by celebrated masters of 
Italy and other countries. 

" An object of great interest is the shrine of St. Alexander Nevski. 



118 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 




W' 1 



The coffin is of solid silver, 
and, with the surrounding or- 
naments of the same pure met- 
al, is estimated to weigh more 
than a ton and a half. The 
crown of the saint is preserved 
here, and also the bed on which 
Peter the Great died, and there 
are many interesting objects 
associated with the memory of nearly all the rulers of Russia. 

" There is a library of ten or twelve thousand volumes, together with 
a large number of manuscripts relating to the history of the Empire. In 
the monastery are the cells of some fifty or sixty monks who reside here 
and have charge of a religious school which is open to students preparing 



PIGEONS IN A RUSSIAN CITY. 



A PERSIAN TRAIN IN ST. PETERSBURG. 



119 



to enter the service of the Church. The chapel contains the tombs of 
Suwaroff and other generals, and also of many members of the Imperial 
family. There are tombs of several noble families of Russia ; that of the 
Narishkins bears the inscription, 

" ' FROM THEIR RACE CAME PETER THE GREAT.' 

"An occurrence of comparatively recent times is associated with this 
church. Alexander Griboyedoff, born at Moscow about 1795, was a cele- 
brated poet and dramatist, whose merits were acknowledged by his ap- 
pointment as Minister to Persia in 1828. In February of the following 
year he and all the Russians who accompanied him were murdered in 
Teheran, in consequence of a riotous outbreak of the populace. The Rus- 
sian Government demanded satisfaction, which was given in the shape of 
a long train of beasts of burden loaded witli presents, and accompanied by 
a prince of the Shah's household. There were also many fine horses for 




PKRSIAN HORSES PRESENTED BY THE SHAH. 



saddle purposes, and a collection of wild animals peculiar to Asia. The 
train was months on its way, and reached St. Petersburg in the winter. A 
procession was made to this church, and certainly it was the most remark- 
able that this northern city had ever seen. 

"Pearls, embroideries in gold and silver, shawls, and other costly fab- 
rics, were carried on silver dishes in the hands of gorgeously dressed Per- 
sians ; elephants bearing towers filled with Persian warriors, or laden with 
the gifts of the Persian court, were protected from the cold by boots and 



120 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



wrappings of leather ; and the cages of the lions, tigers, and leopards were 
shielded by double coverings of the skins of Arctic bears. The Persian 
prince rode in an Imperial carriage drawn by six horses, and was escorted 
by a regiment of Eussian grenadiers. A portion of the presents was 

bestowed upon this church, and 
the remainder went to the fam- 
ilies of Griboyedoff and his 
companions. 

" The Emperor comes in 
person to attend the service of 
mass in this church at least 
once a year. The choir is one 
of the best in the city, and the 
church is largely attended by 
the fashionable inhabitants of 
the capital. A service was go- 
i ing on as we entered the build- 
ing, and we remained near the 
door until it ended. It was 
an impressive ceremonial, made 
doubly so by the historic inter- 
est of the surroundings." 

A drive to the Summer 
Gardens followed the visit to 
the Church of Saint Alexander 
Nevski. Several theatres and 
other public buildings were 
passed on the way, but they concluded not to stop to examine them. 
" One building is very much like another in St. Petersburg," said the Doc- 
tor ; " and unless there is some special interest connected with it, or a 
peculiar feature of architecture, it is not worth while mixing it up with 
your recollections of the Winter Palace and the Hermitage." 

It was a pleasant afternoon, and the Summer Gardens were filled with 
people enjoying the open air. There were nurse-maids with children, 
peasants alone or in couples, or groups, well-to-do persons of the middle 
classes, officers and soldiers— in fact a fair representation of the whole pop- 
ulation. The Emperor sometimes comes here for a walk, but of late years 
his visits have been less frequent than formerly, on account of the fear of 
assassination. It is forbidden to speak to the Emperor while he is on the 
promenade, and any one violating the rule will be arrested immediately. 




RUSSIAN PEASANT GIRL. 



EMPEROR NICHOLAS AND THE ACTOR. 



121 



It is said that one day while the Emperor was walking in the Summer 
Gardens he met and recognized a French actor with whose performance 
he was greatly pleased. He spoke pleasantly to the actor, and the latter 
replied, expressing his satisfaction at this mark of the Imperial favor. 
The Emperor then went on his way. The police immediately pounced 
upon the performer, and carried him away to prison for violating the rule ! 

"But the Emperor spoke to me first," the man protested over and 
over again to no purpose. 

" You spoke to the Emperor, which is contrary to the law," was all 
the explanation he could obtain. 

Nicholas went that night to the theatre to hear his favorite, but the 
latter did not appear. No one could tell where he was, and his Majesty 
returned disappointed to the palace. 

In the morning the unfortunate actor was released, and the story some- 
how readied the Imperial ears. Nicholas sent for the victim of the arrest, 
apologized for the action of 
the police, and asked what 
reparation he could make 
for the actor's night in 
prison. 

" Never speak to me 
again in the public garden," 
was the reply. The Em- 
peror laughed, and made 
the required promise. Next 
day he sent the equivalent 
of a month's salary to the 
actor, together with a dia- 
mond ring of no small value. 

In one corner of the gar- 
den is a monument to the 
memory of Kriloff, the Rus- 
sian fabulist. The youths 
asked the Doctor to tell 
them about Kriloff, which 
he did as follows : 

"Kriloff was the most 
famous writer in Russia in 
the first half of the present century," said the Doctor, " and he is proba- 
bly better known to - day among all classes of the population than any 




RUSSIAN NURSE-MAID AND CHILDREN. 



122 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



other man of letters. Forty thousand copies of his works were sold be- 
tween 1830 and 1840, in editions of various kinds, and went to all parts of 
the Empire. There was hardly a child of the educated classes who was 
not familiar with his stories, and they were circulated ' by word of mouth ' 
among the peasantry, to whom reading was an unknown accomplishment ; 
and before they were issued in books, his fables were published in news- 
papers and magazines, so that the aggregate circulation was very large." 

Fred asked what was the nature of the stories told by the famous man 
whose statue they were regarding. 

" They were fables," the Doctor answered, " after the manner of 
iEsop's and La Fontaine's. He had written editorials and literary essays 




SOME OF KRILOFF'S FRIENDS. 



for various publications, but never made a ' hit ' until about his fortieth 
year, when he took some fables from La Fontaine and adapted them to the 
conditions of life in Russia. lie showed them to a friend, who printed 
them in The Moscow Spectator, where they attracted much attention. 
Kriloff was encouraged to continue this style of writing. For the rest of 
his life his literary labors were almost wholly devoted to fables. He died 
in November, 1841, at the good old age of seventy-six. 

"At his funeral the streets were crowded, and the Church of St. 
Isaac could not hold all who came to take part in the services. Soon after 
his death a popular subscription was started, and the children of all classes 
contributed to it. The money was expended for the erection of the statue 



A CONVENTION. 



123 




kriloff's characters in convention. 



124 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

before us. You observe that the space around it is the favorite play- 
ground of the children, and no more appropriate spot could have been 
chosen." 

The statue represents Kriloff in a dressing-gown, seated in an arm- 
chair, with his head slightly inclined forward, and looking pleasantly down- 
ward'. The pedestal of the monument is adorned with reliefs of the ani- 
mals that figured in his fables— oxen, horses, cows, sheep, donkeys, foxes, 
wolves, hens, lions, etc., and thereby hangs a story : 

The Emperor Nicholas was fond of choosing as his ministers and ad- 
visers men who were not likely to oppose any of his measures. The in- 
competency of his ministry was notorious both in Eussia and other coun- 
tries. When his successor, Alexander II., ascended the throne, he was 
asked why he did not retain the ministry of Nicholas instead of choosing 
a new one. He replied, " My father was a man of such transcendent abil- 
ity that he could afford to surround himself with incompetent men ; I feel 
my weakness, and must have the best talent in the Empire to assist me." 

When the equestrian monument to the memory of Nicholas was under 
consideration, it was proposed to adorn its pedestal with the portraits 
of his ministers, but the proposal was vetoed, when some one suggested 
that if the monument were so adorned it might be mistaken for that of 
Kriloff. 

"Kriloff's fables," the Doctor continued, " were aimed at official and 
social abuses and absurdities. Many that he wrote were never produced, 
as all had to receive the approval of the censor before they could be 
issued. I told you that in ten years forty thousand copies of his works 
were sold, and it is probable that the present sale amounts to several thou- 
sand annually. Kriloff is read not only by Russian children but by peo- 
ple of all ages, and the fables have been translated into all the languages 
of Europe." 

On the way back to the hotel our friends stopped at a book-store and 
bought a copy, in English, of the book in which their interest had been 
aroused. Some of the fables were incomprehensible to them, on account 
of their ignorance of Russian manners and customs, and of the system of 
government ; but this was not the case with the greater number. They 
had a hearty laugh over several of the anecdotes, and voted the book to 
be well worth preserving. 

Here are some of the fables with which they were amused. We will 
condense them, as they are sometimes rather long drawn out in the 



original. 



A donkey meets a nightingale in the woods, and asks her to favor Mm 



SOME OF KRILOFF'S FABLES. 



125 



with a song. She complies, and sings her sweetest. The other birds come 
and listen, but the donkey shakes his head and says, " Your voice is very 
fair, but you should take lessons of the village cock." The moral may be 
thus rendered in English : 

"What most the poet fears, 
Is the critic with long ears." 

Another fable tells how the swan, the crab, and the pike agreed to 
draw a load ; but when the time came for the effort the pike dived into 
the water, the swan new into the air, while the crab went backward after 
the manner of his kind. At the end Kriloff says, 

"Which was right and which was wrong, 
I really can't pretend to say; 
But this I know, they labored long, 
And the load stands still to the present day." 

The fable of " The Two Boys " tells how two youths are trying to get 
at some nuts in a tree, but the limbs are beyond their reach. One sug- 
gests that he will climb up on the back of the other, and then can gather 
nuts for both ; but as soon as he is seated among the limbs he falls to 
eating the nuts at his leisure, and throws only the shells to his companion. 
The moral is obvious, and Kriloff adds that he has known men thus raised 
to profitable positions who had not the grace to throw even the shells 
to those who had assisted them. 

In the fable of " The Pike," that voracious fish has been killing his 
inoffensive neighbors in the pond. He is taken in a tub of water and 
carried before the court for judgment. The court is composed of two 
donkeys and two goats, who grazed on the banks of the pond ; and in 
order to make their decision an intelligent one, a skilful lawyer, the fox, 
is added to the court. People said that the fox was always plentifully 
supplied with fish, the pike giving him all he wanted. 

The proof was overwhelming, and the judges decided that the pike 
must be hanged. "Oh, hanging's too good for him," said the fox, "give 
him something more severe ; let the wretch be drowned." 

"Certainly," exclaimed the judges; and thereupon the pike was 
thrown into the pond again. 

In " The Fox and the Marmot," the fox complains to the marmot that 
he has been driven out of a poultry -yard which he had undertaken to 
protect. "It was a wretched place," says the fox; "I was awake all 
night; and even in the daytime I had hardly time to eat a mouthful. 



126 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



My health was suffering from my constant occupation, and, after all my 
trouble and fidelity, I am accused of stealing. What an infamous out- 
rage ! You know what I had to do there, and I ask if you could suspect 
me of the slightest act of dishonesty." 

"Of course not," the marmot answers; "but I'm sorry to say that 

I've frequently seen feathers stick- 
ing in your mouth." 

" Many an official," says Kriloff, 
" complains that his place is a hard 
jjPIJ^K one,, and he is barely able to live 
upon his pay. Nevertheless in 
time he buys an estate and builds 
a house. You might have diffi- 
culty in proving that he accepted 
bribes or robbed the Government, 
but every one must admit that the 
feathers are quite visible around 
the gentleman's mouth." 

Frank read this fable aloud, 
and then asked the Doctor if the 
moral would be understood by any 
office-holders in the United States. 
Doctor Bronson smiled as he an- 
swered that the fable was designed 
for Eussia alone, but its circulation 
in New York and Washington 
could do no harm. 

In the evening our friends went 
to one of the theatres to hear an 
opera that is a great favorite with 
the Kussians. It is by Glinka, a 
Russian composer, and is entitled 
"Jizn za Tsarya" ("A Life for 
the Czar "). From " The Russians 
at Home " Fred learned that the 
opera was first produced in Mos- 
cow in 1813. The subject is the devotion of a Russian peasant to the 
Czar Michael, the first ruler of the Romanoff family. A band of Polish 
invaders are seeking the Czar with the intention of killing him; they 
meet a peasant, whom they question as to the Czar's place of conceal- 




THE FOX AS A LAW-GIVER. 



"A LIFE FOR THE CZAR." 



127 



ment. Suspecting their design, he offers to lead them to the spot ; they 
follow, and he leads them to the centre of a forest from which they 
cannot find' a way of escape. After getting them there, he announces 
that he has saved the life of the Czar at the sacrifice of his own. The in- 
vaders kill him on the spot, but the life of the Czar is saved. The story 




ONE OF KRILOFF'S CHARACTERS. 



is a true one, and to this day the people of the village where the loyal 
peasant, Ivan Soussanin, lived, are exempt from taxes, and a monument has 
been erected to the memory of the man. The opera which chronicles his 



128 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

devotion is given in three acts, and its melodies are all strictly national. 
Our friends were delighted with the performance, and both Frank and 
Fred declared that for days afterwards several of the airs in "Jizn za 
Tsarya" were literally "running through their heads." 

Another evening they went to one of the cheaper theatres, where Kus- 
sian comedies and farces were given. Of course they could not under- 




CLOSING SCENE IN A KUSSIAN PLAY. 



stand the dialogue, but were quite interested in the action of the piece, 
which was decidedly vigorous. Fred said he was reminded of certain local 
dramas in New York, where the actors receive a great deal of pounding 
and rough handling, and Frank thought a good actor in Eussia ought to 
have the flexibility and agility of a circus performer. 



A RUSSIAN COMEDY. 



129 



As a type of the plays that amuse the lower order of Russians, the 
following is a fair representation : 

A mujik makes love to his master's maid-servant, much against the old 
gentleman's will. One day the master enters the kitchen and finds the 
mujik there. The whole family is called, the bull-dog is let loose upon 
the lover and seizes him by the coat, while all the members of the house- 
hold proceed to pound him 
with saucepans, broomsticks, 
tongs, and other utensils that 
can be used for hostile pur- 
poses. 

Hound and round goes 
the frightened mujik. The 
dog clings to the mujik's 
coat, the master seizes the 
dog by the tail, the mistress 
clutches the master by the 
coat, and so the whole trio 
is dragged by the victim. 
The rest of the party con- 
tinue their pounding, which 
they alternate by throwing 
missiles in the shape of 
plates, potatoes, and any- 
thing else the kitchen af- 
fords. 

The audience is w T ild 
with delight, especially as 
the blows fall quite as 

often on the other characters as on the mujik. Finally the maid-servant 
comes to her lover's relief by throwing a bunch of fire-crackers among his 
enemies and blowing them up ; thereupon the lover dashes through the 
door, carrying with him the adhering bull-dog, and the curtain falls amid 
rounds of applause. 

9 




KRILOFF'S STATUE IN THE SUMMER GARDEN, ST. PETERSBURG. 



130 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



CHAPTER VII. 

NEWSPAPERS IN RUSSIA. — THEIR NUMBER, CHARACTER, AND INFLUENCE. DIFFI- 
CULTIES OF EDITORIAL LIFE. — THE CENSORSHIP.-AN EXCURSION TO PETER- 
HOF ORANIENBAUM, AND CRONSTADT. - SIGHTS IN THE SUMMER PALACE. - 
CRONSTADT AND THE NAVAL STATION. -THE RUSSIAN NAVY. THE RUSSIAN 
ARMY: ITS COMPOSITION AND N UMBERS.— THE COSSACKS. -ANECDOTES OF RUS- 
SIAN MILITARY LIFE. 

THE conversation about Kriloff and the visit to the opera naturally 
turned the thoughts of the youths in the direction of Russian litera- 
ture, journalism, and dramatic productions. Frank was curious to know 
about the newspapers of the country, while Fred's first inquiry referred 
to the works of its poets, historians, and dramatists. 

"We will begin with the newspapers," said Doctor Bronson, "and 
first 1 will speak of those published in St. Petersburg. They are all 
printed in Russian, with the exception of a little sheet in German, for the 
exclusive use of the German residents, and Le Journal de St. Petersbourg, 
the organ of the ministry of foreign affairs, and chiefly filled with official 
notices interesting to foreigners. It is printed in French, as most of the 
foreigners visiting Russia understand that language. It contains very lit- 
tle local news, and not much from the outside world. In fact journalism, 
as we understand it in America, is practically unknown in Russia. The 
best of the Russian dailies could not stand a comparison with the leading 
journals of a dozen American cities, and a single copy of the Herald, 
'Tribune, Times, or World, of New York, contains more 'news,' as we call 
it, than all the papers of Moscow and St. Petersburg together." 

« I suppose the censorship is largely responsible for this state of af- 
fairs," Frank remarked. 

"You are quite right," the Doctor replied ; "if the censorship did not 
exist there is no doubt that the papers would be much more enterprising 
than they are. They must not ofiend the Government, or they are liable 
to suppression. Editorials are generally submitted to the censor before 
going into type, and if approved they may be printed. If printed with- 
out approval, the publishers run the risk of censure. For a first offence 
they are < cautioned ;' for a second they are cautioned and fined ; and for 



NEWSPAPERS IN RUSSIA. 



131 



a third offence the publication is suspended for a month, three months, or 
perhaps entirely. Consequently the papers cannot discuss public matters 
with any freedom, and they are entirely prohibited from publishing per- 
sonal scandals, which form such an important part of the ' news ' of several 
American papers I could name. In addition to cautions and fines, the edi- 
tors are liable to imprisonment ; and, taking all things into consideration, 
the way of the journalist is hard in Russia." 

Fred asked the Doctor what were the principal papers of the capital. ; 

" They change so often," was the reply, " that an answer made this 
year will hardly answer for next. Each member of the ministry has his 
organ ; that of the foreign ministry, as before stated, is Le Journal de St. 




PRESS-ROOM OF A DAILY NEWSPAPER. 



Peter sbourg / while that of the War Department is the Russki Invalid, 
known to the outer world as the Invalide Russe. The organ of the Naval 
Bureau is published at Cronstadt, the great naval port of the Empire, and 
not at the capital ; but as Cronstadt is only a few miles away, the locality 
is of little consequence. The Golos is generally understood to be the or- 
gan of the Ministry of the Interior ; and as this department has the super- 
vision of the press, this paper is said to have more freedom than its rivals. 
But even the Golos does not escape the hand of the censor, and its free- 
dom of speech has several times brought it into trouble. 

"What would be called a small circulation in America is a large one 
in Russia. There is not a daily paper in the Empire that averages a cir- 
culation of twenty-five thousand copies, and the leading papers of the two 
great cities have to content themselves with ten or fifteen thousand. I 
have been told $iat the daily papers of St. Petersburg do not circulate 
altogether more than eighty thousand copies daily outside the capital, 



132 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

and about fifty thousand in it. Remember, the mass of the population 
does not know how to read and write as in America, and consequently 
the circulation of the newspapers is confined to a small portion of the 

community. ... 

« A paper of great influence, probably the greatest in the Empire, is 
the Moscow Gazette. It is supposed to be the organ of the Emperor, with 
whom its editor, Mr.Katkoff, is on terms of intimacy. Important edicts 
of the Government are frequently foreshadowed in the Gazette, and the 
national and international pulses are often felt through its columns. But, 
with all its influence, the Gazette does not circulate more than twenty 




INTERVIEWING AN EDITOR. 

thousand copies-at least according to the figures at my command. The 
Moscow Gazette is more frequently quoted by foreign write rs than any 
other journal in Russia; and if it were published m French rather Jhan 
in Russian, we should probably hear of it even more frequently than we 

d °'"«It's a pity they don't give us a French edition of it," said Frank. 
« I would like very much to read the paper and know what it has to say, 



BISMARCK AND GORTCHAKOFF. 



133 



but of course I can't as long as it is in Russian. French is the diplomatic 
language, and I wonder they don't make an edition for foreign circu- 
lation." 

" Did you ever hear," remarked the Doctor, with a smile, " of the at- 
tempt of Prince Bismarck to have German take the place of French as 
the language of diplomacy ?" 

Neither of the boys had heard the anecdote, which the Doctor gave as 
follows : 

" Shortly after the close of the Franco-German War, in 1870, Bismarck 
thought he would establish German as the diplomatic language, and with 




PRINCE GORTCHAKOFF. 



this object in view he made use of German instead of French in an offi- 
cial communication to Prince Gortchakoff, the foreign minister of Russia. 
Gortchakoff promptly replied to the communication, and wrote in Russian. 
Bismarck saw the joke, and desisted from further attempts to carry out 
his design." 

" Returning to our subject," said the Doctor, " there are daily papers 



1 



134: THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

in the large towns of Eussia, and weekly or semi-monthly papers in the 
smaller ones; but with its population of one hundred million* s the , Em- 
pire has less than one-tenth as many newspapers as we have m the United 
States, and probably not more than one-fiftieth, or even one-hundredth, of 

the circulation. . „ 

"The first printing-press in Kussia was set up in 1564. lbe first 
newspaper was printed at Moscow in 1704, and the second at St Peters- 
burg a year later. Peter the Great abolished the use of the old Slavic 
characters for printing purposes, and personally supervised the casting at 
Amsterdam of the types in the Kussian common language as we now 

find it. , 

"In addition to the newspapers there are many magazines and reviews 
in Eussia, and some of them have a very large circulation. They contain 
articles on the condition of the country, biographical sketches of distin- 
guished Eussians, historical notices of cities and towns, scientific reports, 
travels, anecdotes, and stories by Eussian writers, together with translations 
of European or American works. ' Uncle Tom's Cabin' was published 
in one of the Eussian magazines, and so were the stories of Dickens and 
other English authors. The magazines go to all parts of the Empire, and 
have a larger circulation, proportioned to that of the newspapers, than do 
periodicals elsewhere." _ . 

The conversation was brought to an end by tne entrance of the guide, 
who said it was time to start for their proposed excursion to Peterhof. 
In a few minutes they were on the way to the station, and in due time 
were seated in the train which carried them to their destination 

Peterhof is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, not far from Cron- 
stadt- in fact the excursion included a visit to Cronstadt before the party 
returned to the city. The palace was begun in 1720, under the direction 
of Peter the Great. Nearly every sovereign of Eussia has made additions 
and alterations, hut the original palace remains, and its general character- 
istics are preserved. Even the yellow paint which Peter adopted is still 
in use and the palace contains several relics of the great Czar, which are 
regarded with reverence by Eussian visitors, and with interest by others. 

"It was here that Peter the Great died," wrote Fred in his journal. 
"They showed us the bed whereon he breathed his last, and it was in the 
same condition as when he left it. It is not in the palace, but in a small 
building in the grounds, and it is said that in the same building the Em- 
press Elizabeth sometimes amused her courtiers by cooking her own din- 
ner From another building, called Marly, Peter used to watch his Seet 
of ships at anchor near Cronstadt; and in another, The Hermitage, there 



DINING-TABLE OF CATHERINE THE GREAT. 



135 



is a curious arrangement, devised by Catherine II., so that a party at din- 
ner did not need the aid of servants. You wonder how it was done ? 

" In front of each person at table there was a circular opening, through 
which a plate could be lowered to the kitchen or carving-room below, and 
replaced by another. Imagine, if you please, a miniature ' lift,' or elevator, 
for each place at table, and you will understand the arrangement. Thus a 
dinner of any number of courses could be served, and the party would be 
entirely by itself. Catherine used this dining-room when she wished to 
discuss State secrets with foreign ambassadors, and be sure that no listening 
servant could betray them. 




CABINET AND CHAIR IN THE PALACE. 



" The palace contains many tapestries, articles of porcelain, malachite, 
and other costly things, and there are many pictures representing battles 
fought in the latter part of the last century. One room contains nearly 
four hundred portraits of girls in all parts of European Eussia, which were 
painted by a French count who travelled through the Empire in Cather- 
ine's time. The wonderful thing about them is, that the artist who exe- 
cuted the pictures was able to represent the subjects in different attitudes, 
so that no two are alike. 



136 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

" They showed us the tables and benches where several of the emper- 
ors played when they were children, and also the playthings that amused 
them. 

" The grounds are quite as interesting as the palace. They are beauti- 
fully laid out in gardens, dotted with lakes, cascades, fountains, and little 
parks, No description in words could do justice to the spot, which must 




ILLUMINATION IN A RUSSIAN PARK. 



be seen in an elaborate picture to be appreciated. The water-works are 
nearly as fine as the celebrated one at Versailles, or St. Cloud in France, 
and of course the Russians claim that they are superior. Occasionally m 
summer there is a festival given by the Emperor to some of his foreign 
guests ; the grounds and the lake are lighted np with Chinese lanterns, and 
the display closes with an exhibition of fireworks of no small importance. 
Sometimes the Emperor goes around the lake in a boat propelled by oars- 
men, but usually contents himself by looking on from a pavilion near the 

edge of the water. 

"From Peterhof we drove to Oranienbaum, about six miles away, 
where we took the boat to Cronstadt. I can't begin to name all the pal- 



A VISIT TO CRONSTADT. 



137 



aces and chateaux on the road, as I was too busy with looking at them to 
remember what they were called ; and besides, if I made a list it might be 
too long to be interesting. We visited two or three of them, but had not 
time for all ; some were not open to strangers, as they were then occupied 
by their owners, and these Eussian grand-dukes and duchesses are very 
exclusive in their ways. 

" At Oranienbaum we found the little steamer which was to convey 
us to Cronstadt, five miles away ; she puffed, as though conscious of her 
importance, but did not make very good speed, and we had plenty of time 
to study Cronstadt as we 
approached it. The city 
is not very large, nor is 
it particularly interesting. 
The chief objects of at- 
traction are the tremen- 
dous fortifications, which 
are among the strongest 
in the world, and very ex- 
tensive. They were be- 
gun by Peter the Great, 
in 1703, and there has 
hardly been a year since 
that time when labor on 
them has entirely ceased. 
The harbor was filled with 
ships belonging to the 
war fleet of Kussia, and 
certainly they have a fleet 
to be proud of. There 
is a smaller port, called 
the 'Merchants' Harbor,' 
where the commerce of 
the city is centred. It is 
an active place from May 
to November, when navi- 
gation is open, but when the Baltic is sealed with ice in the winter 
months, it must be the perfection of dreariness. 

" Until quite recently ships drawing more than ten feet of water could 
not pass the bar of the Neva and ascend to St. Petersburg, but were com- 
pelled to anchor at Cronstadt. Kecently a canal has been made, with a 




TAPESTRY AND FI11E UTENi 



PETERHOF. 



138 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



depth of twenty feet, so that a great many vessels which were formerly 
excluded on account of their size can ascend to the capital. During the 
Crimean war Cronstadt was blockaded by a French and English fleet ; an 
attack was made on the forts of Cronstadt, but it was easily repulsed ; and 
after that time the allies did nothing more than regard the forts from a 
safe distance. At Oranienbaum is a palace, from whose top the Emperor 
Nicholas used to watch the movements of the hostile fleet ; the telescope 
he employed is still in the position where he left it on his last trip to St. 
Petersburg." 




door-way op peter's house at zaandam, Holland. 



While our friends were looking at the naval harbor of Cronstadt and 
the splendid fleet at anchor there, Doctor Bronson reminded the youths 
that when Peter the Great ascended the throne Kussia had no navy, and 
none of her people knew anything about building ships. 

"I have read about it," said Frank, "and it was to learn the art of 
ship-building that he went to England and Holland." 

« That is what history tells us," the Doctor answered. " He realized 
the inferior condition of a country without a navy, and sent intelligent 
young Eussians to study the art of building and navigating ships. Not 
satisfied with what they learned, he left Russia for about a year and a 
half, which he spent in acquiring useful knowledge. He worked in a ship- 
yard in Holland disguised as a common workman, though it is generally 
believed that the officers in charge of the yard knew who he was. After- 
wards he spent three months in an English ship -yard; and when he 



CURIOSITIES OF RUSSIAN SEAMANSHIP. 



139 



returned to his country lie was accompanied by some five hundred ship- 
wrights, riggers, sail-makers, and other laborers required in an establish- 
ment such as he wished to create. From this beginning came the navy 
of Eussia. The foundation of the great fleet before us was laid by Peter 
the Great. 

" The English and Dutch origin of Eussian ship-building is shown in 
the English and Dutch names for the different parts of a ship. The deck, 
keel, mast, and many other nautical things are the same in Eussian as in 
English; the Eussians had no equivalent words, and naturally adopted 
the names from the country that 
supplied the things named. 

" And I can tell you something 
still more curious," the Doctor con- 
tinued, "as it was told to rne by a 
Eussian captain. While the ship- 
builders of Peter the Great were 
from England and Holland com- 
bined, the men to navigate the ships 
after they were built came almost 
wholly from the latter country. 
The result is that nearly all the 
evolutions of a ship, and the move- 
ments of the sailors to accomplish 
them, are in Dutch, or rather they 
have been adopted from Dutch into 
Eussian. The Eussian captain I 
have mentioned stated it to me in 
this way : 

" ' A Dutch pilot or captain could come on my ship, and his orders in 
his own language would be understood by my crew : 1 mean simply the 
words of command, without explanations. On the other hand, a Dutch 
crew could understand my orders without suspecting they were in Eus- 
sian.'" 

" It is no wonder," said Fred, " that the Eussians honor the memory 
of the great Peter, and that their largest ship of war bears his name. Am 
I right in regard to the ship ?" 

" It is the largest at present," replied the Doctor, " but there are three 
ships — the Tchesme, Sinope, and Catherine II. — to be completed in 1887, 
which will be larger than the Peter the Great. The latter is an iron-clad 
turret-ship of 8285 horse-power and 10,000 tons displacement. She car- 




A STUDENT OF NAVIGATION. 



140 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

lies eight guns, has two turrets, and her iron plating at the water-line is 
fourteen inches thick. She is three hundred and thirty feet long and six- 
ty feet wide in her broadest part, and resembles the great mastless ships 
of the British navy, particularly those of the Dreadnought class. She was 
built at Cronstadt, in 1874 ; the other and larger ships I have named are 
on the ways at Sevastopol and Nicolaieff, on the Black Sea. 




STEAM FRIGATE NEAR CRONSTADT. 



" Without going into details, I will say that the Russian navy consists 
of two great divisions : the fleet of the Baltic and the fleet of the Black 
Sea. Each of these great divisions is subdivided into sections : the Baltic 
fleet into three, and the Black Sea fleet into two. The sections carry flags 
of different colors, white, blue, and red ; this arrangement was taken from 
the Dutch, like the system of ship-building in Peter's time. 

"At the beginning of 1885 the Baltic fleet consisted of two hundred 
and nine vessels, including thirty-three armor-clad and belted ships, forty- 
nine unarmored frigates, corvettes, clippers, and cruisers, and ninety-five 
torpedo-boats. Gun-boats, transports, and various other craft completed 
the list. The Black Sea fleet included ninety-eight vessels, of which seven 
were armor-clad ; then there are the vessels of the Caspian Sea and the 
Siberian flotillas ; and altogether the Russian navy comprised at that time 
358 vessels, armed with 671 guns, with a measurement of 196,575 tons, 
and engines of 191,976 horse-power. 

" Before we drop the subject of Russia's navy," the Doctor continued, 
" perhaps you would like to hear about the Popovkas" 

Neither of the youths had heard of these things, and wondered what 



" POPOVKAS." 



141 



they could be. Doctor Bronson relieved their perplexity by explaining 
that the Popovkas were a new style of iron-clad ship intended for the de- 
fence of harbors, rather than for rapid cruising at sea. 

" They were the invention of Admiral Popoff, of the Russian navy,'' 
he remarked, " and hence comes their name. The first of them was built 
in 1873, at Nicolaieff, on the Black Sea, and was called the Novgorod. 
She is circular, with a diameter of one hundred feet, and carries two eleven- 
inch guns in a revolving turret like that of the Monitor. She measures 
two thousand tons, and has engines which propel her about six miles an 
hour. The other ship of this class is the Admiral Popoff, one hundred 
and twenty feet in diameter, carrying two twelve-inch guns in a revolving 
turret, and capable of steaming eight miles an hour. There is a gentle 
slope of the sides from the water's edge to the base of the turret, so that 
any other shot than a plunging one 
would be glanced off. As the ships 
have not yet been tried in battle, 
their advantages are only theoret- 
ical." 

Frank asked how many officers 
and men were employed in the navy 
of the Czar. 

" From the latest reports at 
hand," the Doctor answered, " there 
are twenty-nine admirals, vice-admi- 
rals, and rear-admirals, four hundred 

and four captains, and nine hundred and thirty-four lieutenants and mid- 
shipmen. Seventy-six admirals, one hundred and forty captains, and fifty 
lieutenants are employed on shore duty, and there are thirty-five captains 
and thirty-nine lieutenants and midshipmen serving in lines of commercial 
steamers subsidized by the Government ; one thousand and ninety-four 
pilots, engineers, artillerists, and others complete the official list, and the 
men before the mast number twenty-four thousand five hundred and 
twelve. The sailors are obtained by conscription or by voluntary enlist- 
ment — generally the former — and required to serve nine years. Seven 
years of this period are in active service, and two years in the reserve, 
whence the men may be called out in case of war." 

" Please tell us something about the Russian army," said Fred, " as the 
army and navy are very closely related." 

" I think you have had enough of statistics for one day," Doctor Bron- 
son replied, " and if they are all in your journals your readers may be in- 




FRIUATE UNDER SAIL AND STEAM. 



142 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

dined to skip them. But at the risk of being tedious you cannot omit 
saying something about the military and naval forces of a nation which is 
the most thoroughly military and naval power of modern times. There 
is no throne in Europe more dependent upon the weapons of war than is 
that of Russia. Take away the army and navy, and Russia would follow 
the fate of Poland, and be speedily dismembered by her neighbors. Eng- 
land, France, Germany, and Austria would have made an end of Russia 
long ago but for the resisting power of which she is capable." 




THE " DREADNOUGHT "—TYPE OF THE " PETER THE GREAT." 



Frank and Fred declared that they would like to hear then and there 
about the army, and so the Doctor continued : 

« The army of Russia previous to 1874 was drawn entirely from the 
classes of artisans and peasants by means of a conscription and the enrol- 
ment of the sons of soldiers. In that year a new law was approved by the 
Emperor making all men who had completed their twenty-first year, and 
were not physically exempt, liable to service. The purchase of substitutes 
is not permitted by the new law; each man drawn by the conscription is 
required to pass six years in active service and nine years in the reserve, 
making a total of fifteen years in all. While in the reserve the men are 
liable to be called out only in case of war, and if so called out, the young- 



THE RUSSIAN ARMY. 



143 



er are put into active service in the field, while the older ones are em- 
ployed for garrisoning forts and other light work." 

"Don't they have any exemption for the sons of rich men?" one of 
the youths inquired. 

" Theoretically there is none," the Doctor answered ; " but in order 
to cover such cases, and particularly to provide officers for the army, it is 
arranged that young men with a fair education may be enrolled as volun- 
teers for short terms during and from their seventeenth year of age. 




Grenadier. Chasseur of Fifer of the Dragoon. Cuirassier, 
the Guard. Guard. 

THE RUSSIAN ARMY — REGULAR TROOPS. 



When their volunteer service is completed they may pass into the reserve, 
or be subjected to an examination for commissions as officers either in the 



144 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

active army or the reserve. In the reserve, whether as officers or privates, 
they are liable to be called for duty any time before their thirty-sixth 
year." 





COSSACK LANCERS AND RUSSIAN GUARD-HOUSE. 



Fred asked what proportion of the male population was taken for the 
army every year by means of the conscription. 

" As before stated, every able-bodied man is liable," was the reply ; 
"but it is generally found that a conscription of four in a thousand will 
produce from ninety thousand to one hundred thousand men. On a peace 



THE COSSACKS. 



145 



footing the active army contains about twenty thousand officers and five 
hundred and thirty thousand men ; the reserve adds eight thousand and 
one hundred thousand to these figures respectively, so that the total peace 
footing is twenty-eight thousand officers and six hundred and thirty thou- 
sand men." 

" And how much is the war footing ?" 

" The war footing, according to the latest figures, to give it exactly, is 
41,551 officers and 1,176,353 men. Add to this the whole able-bodied 
militia liable to be called into service in case of necessity, and the avail- 
able war forces of Russia amount to about 3,200,000. On the peace foot- 
ing, the army has 129,736 horses and 1844 guns, which are increased in 
time of war to 366,354 horses and 3778 guns. In 1883 a census of the 
horses in fifty-eight provinces of European Russia showed that there were 
nearly fifteen millions of these animals fit for service in case of need." 

One of the youths wished to know something about the Cossacks, and 
whether they formed a part of the army or not. 

" The Cossack is an irregular soldier," the Doctor replied, " though in 
some cases he is not a soldier at all. The origin of the Cossacks is un- 
known, some claiming that they belong to the Tartar, and others to the 
Russian race. The probability is that they are a combination of the two. 
They were first heard of in the tenth century, in the valley of the Don 
River; in the wars of Russia with the Turks and Tartars, about the fif- 
teenth century, they showed a great deal of bravery and an excellent or- 
ganization of a semi-military character. t 

" They are more Russian than Tartar in their language, religion, and 
customs. The rulers of Russia have not always found affairs running 
smoothly between themselves and the Cossacks, and when the latter felt 
they had not been properly treated they were not slow to rebel. A revolt 
was generally followed by an emigration of the Cossacks into the Tartar 
country to the east, and in nearly every instance this emigration resulted 
in the addition of new territory to Russia." 

" I believe I have read that the conquest of Siberia was accomplished 
in this way," said one of the youths. 

" You are right," was the reply, " and the whole conquest hardly cost 
anything to the Government. About three hundred years ago a tribe of 
Don Cossacks rebelled, and under the guidance of Yermak, their hetman, 
or leader, crossed the Ural Mountains into Asia. They began a career 
of conquest, which was pushed so rapidly that in less than seventy years 
they and their descendants had carried their banner to the shores of the 
Okhotsk Sea. In the early part of their career they offered the conquered 

10 



146 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

territory to the Czar, and received in return a pardon for their misdeeds 
on the Don. History furnishes no parallel to this conquest, which was 
made by a few hundred outlaws, and carried to a successful end with little 




Lesguin. Cossack of Circassian. Tartar Cossack Cossack of the Cossack of 
the Don. of the Crimea. Caucasus. the Ural. 

THE RUSSIAN ARMY IRREGULAR TROOPS. 



assistance from others and no support from the Government. But to re- 
turn to the Cossacks of to-day : 

« The Cossacks are a race of freemen. With only a few exceptions, 
none of them have ever been serfs. The whole land where they live be- 
longs to them in common, and they have equal rights in hunting and fish- 
ing. They pay no taxes to Government, but in place of taxes are required 



COSSACK ORGANIZATION AND EQUIPMENT, 



147 



to give a certain number of days' service in eacli year. Every Cossack 
feeds and equips himself at his own expense, and provides and feeds his 
horse. If called to serve outside the boundaries of his own country, he 
receives rations for himself and horse and a small amount of pay ; but 
this ceases when he returns to his own land. The Cossacks have their 
own officers, which were formerly chosen by themselves, but are now 
appointed by the Government, the latter usually being careful to send 
officers such as the Cossacks approve. 

" The military organization of the Cossacks is in ten great divisions 
called 4 woisskos? that of the Don being the largest. Each woissko fur- 
nishes, according to its population, a certain number of regiments fully 
armed and equipped, and constantly under military discipline. These 
regiments must be prepared to march for active service ten days after be- 
ing notified. Altogether in time of war the Cossacks of the various parts 
of the Empire, available for war service, are about one hundred and fifty 
thousand men. 

44 They are splendid horsemen, and their best service is as cavalry. 
They can endure hunger, cold, and fatigue beyond ordinary soldiers, and 
are very troublesome to an enemy. In the retreat of Napoleon's army 
from Moscow they made great havoc, and many thousands of French sol- 
diers fell beneath the Cossack lance and sabre. They have an undeserved 
reputation for cruelty, as they are probably no worse, and certainly no bet- 
ter, than other kinds of soldiers. War at its best is a cruel business, and 
in no age of the world has it been the custom for armies to refrain from 
hurting their enemies when it was in their power to do so." 

This conversation occupied most of the time while the boat was steam- 
ing from Cronstadt to St. Petersburg. Seated near our friends was an 
officer whose coat did not show any buttons. It was fastened with hooks 
like those on a lady's dress, and Frank called attention to its peculiarity. 

Doctor Bronson explained that the officer was of the Cossack branch 
of the service, this being the distinguishing feature of the Cossack uni- 
form. The Cossack soldier wears a sheepskin coat, fastened with a girdle 
at the waist. He abhors buttons, and the uniform of the officers is made 
to conform to their tastes. 

On the lower deck of the boat was a squad of soldiers, under command 
of a sergeant, who had probably been to Cronstadt on some official duty, 
and were now returning. Fred called attention to the singular hats worn 
by the soldiers, each hat having a high plate of brass in front, and remind- 
ing the youths of the hats worn by the soldiers in the comic opera of the 
u Grand-duchess of Gerolstein." 



us 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



" It is not unlike a coal-scut- 
tle in shape," said Fred, "and 
must be an uncomfortable piece 
of head-gear." 

" That is a regiment which 
was organized in the time of the 
Emperor Paul," said the Doctor, 
"and. the design of the hat was 
made by him — at least that is 
what a Eussian officer told me. 
Observe that there is a perfora- 
tion in the brass of each hat, as 
though made by a bullet, and 
some of the hats have two or 
three holes. 

" The tradition is," continued 
the Doctor, "that the regiment 
once showed cowardice when 
brought face to face with the 
French invaders during the war 
of 1812. In the next battle they 
were put in the front, and kept 
there ; half their number were 
killed, and nearly every hat was 
perforated by a bullet. Since 
that time the helmets are pre- 
served just as they were when 
the battle ended. When a new 
helmet is ordered to replace an 
old one, it is perforated just as 
was its predecessor. Hence the 
curious appearance of the soldiers 
of the grenadier regiment organ- 
ized by Paul. 

« The discipline of the Eussian army is severe, and there are no better 
regiments, either for parade or fighting purposes, than those stationed in 
the neighborhood of the great cities. Eeviews of the army are held fre- 
quently^ When the Emperor goes in person to the grand review every 
year the sight is a magnificent one. 

" The Eussian Imperial family is full of soldierly qualities, which is 




GRAND-DUKE MICHAEL. 



ANECDOTE OF A GRAND-DUKE. 



149 



not at all strange when we remember their training. Sometimes it is 
pushed to an extreme degree. The Grand-duke Michael, brother of the 
Emperor Nicholas, is said to have been one of the most rigid disciplina- 
rians ever known ; and whenever he inspected a division, not a button, or 
even the point of a mustache, escaped his notice. Parades were his de- 
light, and he could ride at full gallop along the front of a line and detect 
the least irregularity. He used to say, 

" ' I detest war ; it interferes with parades, and soils the uniforms.' 

"He disliked the Cossacks because they did not appear well at re- 
views ; in his eyes their excellent fighting qualities were of minor impor- 
tance. 

"The Cossacks carry their cartridges in a row of pockets on the 
breasts of their coats, and not in cartridge-boxes, as do other soldiers. The 
Grand-duke thought a soldier's uniform was incomplete without a car- 
tridge-box, probably for the reason that it gave him a certain amount of 
work to keep it clean and bright. This was another reason for his dislike 
of the irregular troops, which form such an effective arm of the service in 
time of war." 

The steamer deposited its passengers at the quay near Admiralty 
Square, and our friends again trod the soil of St. Petersburg, after an in- 
teresting and instructive day in the environs of the city. Frank and Fred 
devoted the evening to writing out what they had learned during the 
trip to Peterhof and Cronstadt, and especially to making notes upon the 
army and navy of Russia. To refresh their memories, they referred to a 
copy of ."The Statesman's Year-book," which happened to be in the 
room, and said they would cordially recommend it to others who might 
seek similar information. 




IRON-CLAD STKAMER OF THE BALTIC FLEET. 



150 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

VISITING THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. PETERSBURG. — EDUCATION IN RUSSIA.— PRI- 
MARY AND OTHER SCHOOLS.-THE SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION. — RECENT PROG- 
RESS IN EDUCATIONAL MATTERS. -UNIVERSITIES IN THE EMPIRE; THEIR 
NUMBER AND LOCATION.— RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. — TREATMENT OF THE JEWS.— 
THE ISLANDS OF THE NEVA, AND WHAT WAS SEEN THERE. — IN A TRAKTIR. 
—BRIBERY AMONG RUSSIAN OFFICIALS. 

NEXT morning the party was out in good season. It had an appoint- 
ment with a professor attached to the University of St. Petersburg 
for a visit to that institution. He was to take breakfast with them, and 
afterwards would escort them through the library and other rooms of the 
establishment. While they were at breakfast the professor entertained the 
youths with an account of the educational condition of Kussia, which 
we will endeavor to repeat as nearly as it was remembered by Frank and 
Fred. 

"On behalf of my country," said the professor, "I am sorry to say 
that we are behind England, Germany, Austria, and most other nations 
of Europe in the matter of general education, but not nearly as backward 
as we were in past years. We have no system of common-schools such 
as you have in the United States, and the mass of the population is practi- 
cally without instruction beyond what they receive from the village 
priests. Down to the time of Alexander II. the village schools were con- 
trolled by the priests, and no one else could be a teacher in them. That 
progressive monarch issued an order requiring the schools to be given to 
the most capable applicants, whether priests or not. This was a great step 
in advance, as the priests were not unfrequently nearly as illiterate as the 
people they were set to instruct. 

" To show how we are progressing, let me say that in 1860 only two 
out of every hundred recruits levied for the army were able to read and 
write ; in 1870 the proportion had increased to eleven in a hundred, and 
in 1882 to nineteen in a hundred. In 1880 there were 22,770 primary- 
schools in the villages, with 1,140,915 pupils: 904,918 boys and 235,997 
girls. The teachers were 19,511 men and 4878 women. Some of the 



COURSE OF STUDY IN RUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 



151 



primary -schools are entirely supported by the Government, and others 
partly by the Government and partly by a small tax npon the parents of 
each pupil. The latter plan is not satisfactory, as it discourages poor peo- 
ple with many children from sending them to school, and it is probable 
that in a few years all the schools will be free." 




LITTLE FOLKS AT oCHOOL. 



One of the youths asked what was taught in the village schools of 
Russia. 

"Reading and writing," the professor answered, "are the first things, 
as a matter of course ; and then come arithmetic, grammar, and geography, 
in the order I have named them. Church and State are so closely con- 
nected in Russia that the primary education includes the form of prayer; 
it is a part of the daily exercise of the schools, except for those who pro- 
fess other than the orthodox faith, and in former times children of dis- 
senters were not allowed to attend the schools. Catholics, Lutherans, and 
others were instructed by their own teachers, and, failing this, they had no 
instruction whatever. At present children of any faith can attend the 
village schools, and where there is a mixed population the schools are 
divided. 

"In 1850," the professor continued, "there were less than three thou- 



152 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



sand village schools in the Empire ; the increase to more than twenty-two 
thousand in thirty years shows how rapid has been our progress. We 
have great hopes for the future, and at the end of another thirty years I 
trust you w T ill find us not much behind the other countries of Europe." 

Doctor Bronson asked about the higher instruction in Russia, and how 
it compared with that of other lands. 

" One of the drawbacks to higher education in its broad sense," said 
the professor, " was the custom that prevailed, and still prevails to a great 




LEARNING TO WEAVE. 



extent, for rich people to educate their children at home. Every noble- 
man who could afford it had a tutor for his boys and a governess for his 
girls. There is no country where tutors and governesses were more cer- 



TUTOES AND GOVERNESSES. 



153 



tain of employment than in Russia, and I have the assurances from them, 
a hundred times repeated, that they were better treated here than any- 
where else. A tutor or governess is almost invariably made a member of 
the family, sits with them at table, is presented to visitors, forms a part of 
their social circle, and is made to feel thoroughly at home. Governesses 
are usually English 




MINERAL CABINKT IN TIIK UNIVERSITY. 



very early age, and they naturally speak with fluency the language of 
their instructors ; hence it follows that the Russians of the higher classes 
have, justly, the reputation of being the best linguists of Europe." 

As the professor paused, Frank remarked that he had observed how 
almost every Russian officer spoke French or German, and many of them 
spoke French, German, and English. " French seems to be almost uni- 
versal among them," he added, "at least as far as I have been able to 
learn." 

" That is true," said the professor, " and there are many Russians who 
speak French better than they do their own language. With French 
nurses in their infancy, French governesses or tutors as their years ad- 
vance, and with their parents speaking French, it is not to be wondered at. 

"The system of home education discouraged the education of the 
schools among the nobility, and it was only during the reign of Nicholas 



154 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

that a change was made. Count Ouvaroff, Minister of Public Instruc- 
tion under the Iron Czar, set the example by sending his own son to the 
University of St. Petersburg. The example was followed, and the attend- 
ance at the universities and normal schools increased rapidly. Nicholas 
gave the system a military character by decreeing that the students should 
wear cocked hats and swords, but this was abandoned by Alexander II. 
The policy of Nicholas was shown in the words of his instruction to 
Count Ouvaroff, ' Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality.' " 

Fred asked how many universities and high-schools there were in the 
Empire. 

" There are nine universities," the professor answered, " situated at St, 
Petersburg, Moscow, Kief, Kazan, Wilna, Dorpat, Kharkov, Odessa, and 
Warsaw* The professors are paid by the Government, and the poor stu- 
dents have an allowance for their support. To be admitted to the univer- 
sities, they must pass an examination in the course of instruction in the 
gymnasia or high-schools, which are in the provincial towns, about four 
hundred in all, or must have received equivalent instruction at home. 
The high -schools or gymnasia correspond to your academies or high- 
schools in America, and hold the same relation to the universities. 

"Besides the universities, which confer degrees in law, medicine, 
mathematics, natural history, philology, and the Oriental languages, there 
are distinct schools of medicine and law, like the medical and law schools 
of other countries. There are four free high-schools for the education of 
women, and the applicants for admission are constantly in excess of the 
facilities for their instruction. There was a medical school for women, 
but it was closed in 1884 on account of its use as a means of disseminating 
revolutionary ideas." 

Frank and Fred wished to obtain further information about the rea- 
son for closing this medical school, but they remembered that the profess- 
or would probably dislike to discuss the subject, as it had a political bear- 
ing, and so no question about it was asked. 

Breakfast was over, and the party entered the carriage, which was wait- 
ing at the door, and were driven to the university. 

" One thing I forgot to say," said the professor, as soon as they were 
seated in the vehicle, "and that was about education in Finland. The 

* Recently the Government decided to establish a Siberian university. It was to be 
opened at Tomsk in 1886, but there was great opposition to it by a large and influential 
party who claim that a Siberian university would be a great peril to autocracy in Russia. 
They 'look upon Siberia as the source of many liberal, and therefore dangerous, ideas, and 
say the new university will greatly facilitate their development. 



RUSSIAN UNIVERSITIES AND HIGH-SCHOOLS. 



155 



grand-duchy has a system of public instruction distinct from that of the 
rest of the Empire. It has a university at Helsingfors, high-schools in all 
principal towns, and elementary schools in the villages. Almost the en- 
tire population can read, and nearly every youth can write during his 
school-days, though he often forgets this accomplishment in later years. 

"To return to Russia, all through the Empire there are agricultural, 
mining, engineering, and other industrial schools, and there are also nu- 
merous military schools, which have a separate system of instruction. The 
cadets are transferred from the military gymnasia to the ' military schools,' 




PARLOR IN A HIGH-SCHOOL FOR WOMKN. 



in which they are educated to qualify them for commissions as officers. 
There are three academies — for the staff, engineers, and artillery — and in 
these academies the higher branches of military science are taught. The 
religious schools are attached to the Church, and the instruction is man- 
aged by the clergy. Here we are at the university just as my impromptu 
lecture upon education in Russia has reached its end." 

Our friends were introduced by their companion to several others of 
the faculty, and passed an hour at the university very pleasantly. They 
learned that the usual attendance was about four hundred, and the profess- 
ors and lecturers numbered nearly thirty. In addition to what is usually 



156 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



taught in universities there were lecturers upon the Oriental languages. 
A goodly number of students give their attention to the Asiatic tongues, 
with a view to qualifying themselves for future usefulness in that direc- 
tion. The Professor of Chinese was among those to whom our friends 
were introduced. 

" He is an accomplished gentleman," said Frank in his note-book ; " he 
speaks French and Russian as fluently as he does his native language, and 




PRIVATE ROOM OF A WEALTHY STUDENT. 



his questions about America showed that he was well acquainted with the 
history of our country. The rest of the Oriental professors were in Euro- 
pean dress, but the Chinese one was not. He was in the same garments 
he would wear at Shanghai or Peking, and his hair was plaited into an 
irreproachable pigtail. 

« The halls were pleasant and spacious," continued Frank, " and the 
students that we saw had intelligent faces ; they appeared much like the 
students at an English university, but we thought there was an expression 
of more earnestness in their faces. The professor told us that the young 
men who attended the university gave very little trouble in the matter 
of discipline, and the disgraceful pranks of students at Oxford and Cam- 



LIBRARY AND MUSEUM IN THE ST. PETERSBURG UNIVERSITY. 157 



bridge were practically unknown in Russia. It is so recently that educa- 
tion has been in the reach of everybody in this country that its value is 
more appreciated than elsewhere. 

" The library contains more than sixty thousand volumes, and there is 
a good scientific collection in the museum. The students have the privi- 
lege of visiting the Academy of Sciences, under certain restrictions, where 




I.OffKU It K CXT ATION-ROO M . 



they have access to a library of one hundred and fifty thousand volumes 
and an extensive museum. The latter has an Asiatic department, which 
contains many objects of great interest to students of matters pertaining 
to Asia. We went to the museum after seeing the university and looked 
at the remains of the Siberian mammoths, which were found embedded 
in the ice where they had lain for thousands of years. 

" Another educational institution of St. Petersburg is the School of 
Mines, which is supported by the Government and has about three hun- 
dred students. Its collection of minerals is said to be the finest in the 
world. There are single nuggets of gold worth thousands of dollars, 
great masses of solid silver, platinum, copper, and other metals, together 
with topaz, beryl, aquamarine, quartz, and other crystals in great variety 
and of unusual size and beauty. One crystal of beryl weighs five pounds 
and is valued at twenty-five thousand dollars. 



158 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



"In the halls devoted to instruction there are models of mines, with 
the veins of ore, and the machinery for working them ; the workmen are 
represented by little figures like dolls, and the whole is admirably exe- 
cuted. After looking at these models we were taken to the garden, where 
there is a section of a mine, through which we were gnided by means of 
candles and torches. It required very little imagination for us to believe 
we were actually in a mine far below the surface of the earth, and that the 

veins of ore were real rather than 
fictitious. It must be of great ad- 
vantage for the education of the 
students, and certainly we found it 
very instructive in the little time 
we were in it. 

" What would you say if I told 
you that the richest public library 
of Europe is in St. Petersburg? 
Well, the Imperial Library may 
not be superior to all others, but 
those who ought to know say it is 
not inferior in any respect. It 
occupies a very large building on 
the Nevsky Prospect, and is open 
to the public like the great libraries 
of London, Paris, Vienna, and oth- 
er cities. The custodian who ac- 
companied us through the building 
said it contained nearly a million 
printed volumes, in all the lan- 
guages of the world, and about 
thirty thousand manuscripts, some 
of them very old. 

" The foundation of this im- 
mense library was one of the spoils 
of war between Eussia and Poland. It belonged to Count Zalewski, a 
Polish bishop, and contained three hundred thousand volumes. After the 
capture of Warsaw, in 1796, the library was removed to St. Petersburg, 
and since that time yearly additions have been made, until it has reached 
its present condition. Among other things there is a collection of books 
relating to Russia in other languages than Russian. They number forty 
thousand, and cover all dates from the invention of the art of printing 




ONE OF THE PROFESSORS. 



THE IMPERIAL LIBRARY. 



159 



down to the present time. Then there are nearly one hundred thousand 
books in the Russian language, beginning with a volume of the 4 Acts of 
the Apostles,' printed at Moscow in 1538. 

" There is a prayer-book which belonged to Mary Queen of Scots, and 
which contains many notes in her handwriting. There are autographs of 
kings, queens, emperors, princes, and other persons of blue blood — so many 
that I can't begin to enumerate them. In fact there are so many things 
here that one might spend weeks in the library, and find something new 
and interesting every few minutes. The reading-room is well arranged, 
and has all the leading papers of Europe. To show its growth in popu- 
larity, let me say that it was visited by twenty thousand persons in 1854, 
and by seventy-three thousand in 1864. In more recent times as many 
as one hundred and fifty thousand persons have visited the reading-room 
in a single year. 

"Well, we have had enough for one day of schools, libraries, museums, 
and the like — so many of them that our heads are fairly swimming. Let 
us go home and think over what we have 
seen ; if we remember a tenth part of it 
we shall be fortunate." 

Naturally the conversation, after their 
return, related to what they had seen ; and 
in this connection the Doctor gave the 
youths some interesting information. 

" The university we have seen to-day," 
said he, " is not by any means the oldest 
in Russia, nor is it the largest. The hon- 
or of age and extent belongs to the Uni- 
versity of Moscow, which was founded in 
1755, while that of St. Petersburg was 
founded in 1818. The Moscow Univer- 
sity has one thousand eight hundred stu- 
dents, and seventy -two professors and 
lecturers, and there are one hundred and 
fifty thousand volumes in its library. 
The Government gives about three hundred thousand dollars annually in 
aid of the Moscow University, and many of Russia's most celebrated men 
have been educated there. 

" The oldest university in the Empire was at Abo, in Finland, but the 
buildings were destroyed in a great fire in 1827, and afterwards the uni- 
versity was established at TIelsingfors. It was originally founded in 1630, 




DESCENDING A SHAFT. 



160 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 




GALLERIES IN A MINE. 



eleven years before printing was introduced into Finland. Anciently 
there were some curious customs connected with the reception of a stu- 
dent at the University of Abo. He was required to prostrate himself on 
the floor in front of one of the professors, who gave him a certain num- 
ber of blows with a stick. The blows were more imaginary than real, and 
after they were given the student was ordered to rise, and to so conduct 
himself in future that he would never need a repetition of the indignity. 

« The other universities of Russia are about like that of St. Petersburg, 
and do not need a special description. In all of them there is a depart- 
ment of study for those who wish to enter the service of the Church. At 
Dorpat there is a course of study for those of the Lutheran faith, and at 
Kazan, which has a considerable population of Tartars, Moslem students 



TREATMENT OF RELIGIOUS DISSENTERS. 



161 



are admitted, and no interference is made with their religions belief. Some 
of the professors of the Oriental languages are Tartars, and I have been 
told that one of the rooms of the university is fitted up as a mosque. 

" This is a good place to say," continued the Doctor, " that while the 
.Russian Government makes an earnest effort to convert all its subjects to 
the faith of the Orthodox Greek Church, it rarely allows that effort to take 
the form of oppression. Sometimes it happens that an over-zealous priest 
goes beyond the limit ; but as soon as his conduct is known to the proper 




IN THE LIBRARY. 



authorities he is reprimanded, and replaced by one who is more cautious. 
The Polish exiles in Siberia are nearly all Catholics; the Government 
builds churches for them, and allows their priests (generally exiles like 
their co-religionists) to travel from place to place in the performance of 
their religious duties ; and as long as they do not join in any political 
plots, or make other trouble for the authorities, they are allowed the great- 
est freedom. Among the peasant inhabitants of Siberia a Catholic church 
is called 'Polish,' while a Lutheran one is known as ' German.' 

" The Moslem and Pagan inhabitants of Asiatic Russia have the most 

11 



162 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

complete religious freedom ; but sometimes, in their zeal to be on good 
terms with their rulers, they adopt the new religion without laying aside 
the old. I have heard of the chief of a tribe of Yakouts, a savage and 
idolatrous people in Northern Siberia, who joined the Kussian Church 
and was baptized. He attended faithfully to all its observances, and at 
the same time did not neglect anything pertaining to his old belief. 
When about to make a journey, or to undertake any other enterprise, he 




A COLLEGE DORMITORY. 



ofiered prayers in the church, and then summoned the shaman, or Pagan 
priest of his tribe, to perform incantations and bribe the evil spirits not 
to molest him. On being questioned as to his action, he said he was not 
certain which belief was the right one, and he wanted to make sure by 
professing both." 

One of the youths asked the Doctor about the treatment of the Jews 
in Russia. He had read that they were greatly oppressed in some parts 
of the Empire, and that many of them had been killed for no other reason 
than that they were Jews. 

"That is quite true," the Doctor answered; "but the outrages were 
the work of excited mobs, rather than acts authorized by the Govern- 
ment There is much fanaticism among the lower orders of Russians 
and they were roused to what they did by stories which the priests had 



ISRAELITES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



163 



circulated. In some of the riots the police and soldiers are accused of 
making no effort to restrain the mob ; and as they and the rioters are of 
the same religion, there is doubtless good ground for the accusation. 

" The Jews were, first admitted to Kussia by Peter the Great, but they 
were expelled by his daughter, the Empress Elizabeth. They were read - 




JEWISH BURIAL-GROUND. 



mitted by Catherine II., and the privileges she had given them were in- 
creased by Alexander I., who, in 1808 and 1809, issued decrees giving them 
full liberty of trade and commerce. The grant was revoked by Nicholas 
I., and during his time the Jews were subjected to much oppression. 
Alexander II. came to their relief, and restored some of their privileges. 
During and since his reign they have been fairly treated in matters of 
trade, but have been kept down in other ways. Only a certain number 
are allowed to practise medicine or keep drug-stores, and only a specified 
proportion of Jewish students is allowed at the schools and colleges. 

" A great deal of the trade of the country is in their hands, and they 
are noted, as everywhere else in the world, for their industry and frugali- 
ty. They do not meddle with the politics of Kussia, and the instances are 



164 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

exceedingly rare of a Jew being convicted of offences of a political char- 
acter. In the army they make the best of soldiers, both for discipline and 
on the battle-field, where they are noted for their bravery. They are 
more numerous in Poland than in any other part of the Empire, but there 
is not a province of the whole country ruled by the Czar where they can- 
not be found. In their financial transactions they are not behind their 
brethren in other parts of the world ; and wherever they are permitted to 
engage in mechanical pursuits they distance all their competitors." 

& Just as the sun was setting, our friends took a carriage and drove to 
the Islands of the Neva, a favorite resort of the people in the warm 
months of the year. Great num- 
bers of fashionable carriages were 
on the road, troikas being more 
numerous than any other variety. 
A troika is so called from the num- 
ber of its horses, rather than from 
the form of the vehicle. Three 
horses are harnessed abreast, the 
central one having above his head 
the inevitable duga, or yoke. In 
a well -trained troika the central 
horse trots, while the two others 
gallop, with their heads turned out- 
ward. It is a dashing and attrac- 
tive team, and has already made its 
way into other countries than Kus- 
sia. 

The first part of the drive car- 
ried Doctor Bronson and his young 
companions through streets occu- 
pied by the poorer classes, but far- 
ther on they passed great numbers 

of pretty villas, which are the summer homes of the well-to-do inhabitants 
of the city. 

There is an Imperial villa on one of the islands, and occasionally the 
Emperor gives a fete in honor of some event, or for the entertainment of 
a foreign guest. At such times the trees are filled with Chinese lanterns, 
and the entire building is a blaze of light. The people on the line of the 
road follow the Imperial example, and illuminate their houses, and the 
traveller who drives there might easily imagine that he had dropped into 




CLOTHES-DEALER OP MOSCOW. 



A SUBURBAN FETE. 



165 



a section of fairy-land. Doctor Bronson told the youths that he was in 
St. Petersburg at the time of the marriage of the Emperor's son, the 
Grand-duke Vladimir, and one of the sights of the occasion was the illu- 
mination of the islands. 

"We rode through three or four miles of illuminations," said the 
Doctor, "and it seemed as though they would never come to an end. 
At the very entrance of the islands we passed the summer residence 
of Count Gromoff, one of the millionaires of St. Petersburg, and found 




A RUSSIAN TROIKA. 



it transformed into a palace of fire. Not a tree or bush in the large 
garden in front of the house was without its cluster of lanterns, and one 
of our party remarked that it seemed as though half the stars in the 
sky had fallen and found a lodgement there. In the centre of the scene 
were the monograms of the Emperor and Empress, and of the newly- 
wedded pair, outlined in gas-jets; above and behind them was an 
Imperial mantle surmounted with a crown, and all made with the 
burning gas. Then the whole cottage was delineated with thousands 
of lights, and we agreed that never in our lives had we seen such a 



166 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

beautiful picture. Nothing ever produced on the stage of a theatre 
could equal it. 

" Occasionally we came near the water, and wherever we did so it 
was covered with boats which were as freely illuminated as the trees and 
houses on shore. Boat-houses and bath-houses were similarly lighted up, 
and as they are numerous in this part of the Neva, they formed an almost 
continuous line along the river's bank. We were compelled to go at a 




A. YILLA ON THE ISLAND. 



walk, as the streets and roads were crowded with vehicles, and conse- 
quently our drive through this city of lanterns occupied more than an 

hour." . 

Doctor Bronson gave other details of the celebration winch we have 
not time to repeat, or, rather, they did not find a place in the note-books 
of the youths. The time was passed pleasantly in a contemplation of the 
scenes by the way-side-the pretty villas among the trees, the carriages 
and their occupants, the people on foot, or gathered in front of the houses 
or on the verandas, the crowds in the cafes and restaurants, which are scat- 
tered here and there over the islands, together with other sights that met 



AN INTERESTING RIDE. 



167 



their eyes. There was enough to make the fortune of an artist if he could 
have placed all the pretty pictures of the evening upon canvas, and pre- 
served the glow of the northern sky and the twinkle of the lights. A 
few houses were illuminated, probably in honor of a patron saint, or to 
commemorate an event in the history of the owner of the establishment. 
While looking at these illuminations Frank and Fred tried to imagine 
the whole place lighted up as Doctor Bronson had described it on the 
occasion of the Imperial fete. _ ■ 

After a ride of two hours or more, the party returned to the hotel, 




A RUSSIAN FAMILY. 



stopping a few minutes on their way to drink some tea at a traktir. 
Frank ventured to air the few Russian words he had acquired, and ac- 
quitted himself in fine style. 



168 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



" Dai te chai, poshowltz " (" Give us tea, please "), he said, as they took 
their seats at the table. 

" Si chass" replied the waiter, and in a few moments three glasses of 
steaming tea were before them. 

The traveller in Russia will hear " Si chass " pronounced a good many 
times daily while he is in the Empire. It is like the French waiter's 
" Tout de suite" or the English one's " Coming, sir." Practically they 
mean the same thing. The literal translation of u Si chass" is "This 
hour ;" and perhaps this will account for the fact that it is often an hour 
before a simple demand can be met. The waiter in Russia is no more 
reliable than' in other countries, and not generally as intelligent as the 
man of the same occupation in a French cafe. Many of the servants in 
the hotels of St. Petersburg are French or German, instead of Russian ; 
in the best hotels the Russian waiters almost invariably speak French or 
German, in addition to their own language. 

When the tea-drinking was ended, Frank beckoned the waiter, and ad- 
dressed him with the inquiry, "SkolJca stoit" (" E.ow much does it cost?"). 
The waiter comprehended at once, and, somewhat to Frank's disappoint- 
ment, placed on the table a written check on which was noted in figures 
the indebtedness of the party. The disappointment was not caused by 
the price of the tea (only five copecks the glass), but by the removal of 
the opportunity for the young man to make further airing of his Russian 
by displaying his knowledge of the spoken numerals. The printed or 
written figures of the Russian language are the same as those of other 
European nations, and a stranger can get along with them without the 
least trouble, even though he does not know a word of Russian. 

Near the hotel they met a party consisting of two policemen and 
as many prisoners. The latter appeared to be under the influence of 
strong drink, and the policemen did not find it easy to make them move 
along. They were not quarrelsome or obstinate ; in fact, their limbs were 
too weak to allow them to make any resistance. 

" They'll have a job of street-sweeping to-morrow," said the Doctor, 
" unless the customs have changed since the first time I was here." 

" Do they make prisoners sweep the streets V one of the youths asked. 

" They did at that time, and quite likely they do so now," the Doctor 
answered. " Every person arrested for intoxication was required to sweep 
the streets the next day for a given number of hours, and it is a strange 
sight when, as sometimes happens, the sweepers are in the garments in 
which they have been wending their devious ways homeward from a ball, 
or perhaps from a party where fancy costumes have been worn. Gener- 



BRIBERY IN RUSSIA. 



169 



ally speaking, you see few besides the mujiks, or lower classes, as the well- 
dressed people, with money enough in their pockets, can secure immunity 
by means of a bribe. A small donation to the proper officer will set them 
free ; but if they have no money they must do their share of work with 
the rest." 

"I have read that Eussia is the land of bribes," said Fred — "bribes 
both great and small." 

" It certainly has that reputation," was the reply, " and doubtless not 




CULPRIT STREET-SWEEPERS. 



without justice. The pay of the officials is very small, quite out of pro- 
portion to the expense of living, and the temptation is certainly great. A 



170 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

Kussian once said to me that an official must steal in order to make an 
honest living; he did not mean it as a joke, but in sober earnest, though 
Swdid not exactly express his meaning. He wanted to say tha 
accept pay for showing zeal in the interest of any one whose 
affairs passed through his hands, and unless he did so he could not prop- 
erly support himself and family. 

« There is a story of a German savant who was ultimate with the Em- 
peror Nicholas. The latter once ashed him to point out any defects ^ 
F the system of government, and tne 

savant immediately suggested the 
universal system of bribery, which 
ought to be stopped. The Emperor 
shook his head, and said it was im- 
possible to put an end to an evil 
which was so widely spread. 

"'But your Majesty could issue 
an Imperial decree against bribery,' 
the savant replied, ' and that would 
prevent it.' 

'"But I would have to begin,' 
said the -Emperor, 'by bribing my 
Prime-minister to publish the decree, 
and then I would have to bribe ev- 
erybody else to stop taking bribes.' j 
"I will tell you," the Doctor continued, « what I have been told by 
Eussians; I do not vouch for the correctness of what they say, but have 
no doubt of their veracity. While I have had no business transacts 
It involved the payment of money to officials, I have some fnends 
v!mose negotiations were altogether stopped, as they beheve, by the fact 
that thev would not give money to persons of influence. 

' H you have dealings with the Government,' so the Eussians have 
told me, "you must pay something to each and every man who has power 
expedite or hinder your business. If you do not pay you will not pros- 
per and may be certain that your proposals will be rejected. But you 
Siould not offer the money directly to the official, as that would give 

^''TfeTestion arises, 'What is the polite and proper way of doing 

^^Z^ to make up your mind what you can afford to pay, 
and then put the money in a cigar-case along with two or three cigars. 




A BUSINESS TRANSACTION. 



REFORMS OF ALEXANDER II. 



171 



Having stated the business, you invite the man to smoke (everybody 
smokes in Kussia), and then you hand him the cigar-case and turn your 
back to the window, or look intently at something on the table. He 
helps himself to a cigar, and also to the money, and then the affair goes 
on easily.' " 

" What a rascally business !" exclaimed both the youths in a breath. 
Doctor Bronson fully echoed their sentiment, and said he earnestly hoped 
the condition of things was not as bad as it is portrayed. " Alexander II. 
made a considerable improvement in many things during his reign," the 
Doctor continued, " and it is to be hoped that he reformed the official sys- 
tem of the Empire in this particular feature." 




PETER THE GREAT DRESSED FOR BATTLE. 



172. 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



CHAPTER IX. 

STUDIES OF ST. PETERSBURG. — MUJIKS. — " THE IMPERIAL NOSBOAT^A OTO?T 
HISTORY OF RUSSIAN SERFDOM.-ITS ORIGIN, GROWTH, AND >*^™*£ 
PATION OF THE SERFS. — PRESENT CONDITION OF THE PEASANT ^"88-*»- 
mc THF EMPEROR -HOW THE CZAR APPEARS IN PUBLIC. PUBLIC AJ,D SE- 
CRET POLICE -THEIR EXTRAORDINARY POWERS. -ANECDOTES OF POLICE 
SEVERITY.— RUSSIAN COURTS OF LAW. 
T70R the remainder of their stay in the capital Doctor Bronson and the 
A 1 youths were more leisurely in their movements than during the first 
few days. They dismissed the guide, as they felt that they could go 
around without his aid, though they occasionally re-engaged him for spe- 
cial trips when they thought their inexperience would he a bar to their 

progress. ~ 

In thus acting they followed out a plan adopted long before. On ar- 
riving in a strange city where time was limited, they engaged a guide, m 
order that they might "do" the stock sights of the place as quickly as 
possible. If they were to remain for some time they employed him dur- 
ing the first two or three days, and afterwards shifted for themselves. 
This is an excellent system, and is recommended to all readers of this 
volume who may have occasion to travel in foreign lands. _ 

Having familiarized themselves with St. Petersburg, our friends usu- 
ally spent the forenoon of each day at the hotel, and the afternoon and 
part of the evening in going about the streets, making calls, and otherwise 
improving their opportunities. The forenoon was by no means an id e 
time Doctor Bronson was busy with his letters and other matters while 
the youths were engaged in writing up their journals, preparing the his- 
tories which have been mentioned elsewhere, and making various notes 
and observations concerning what they saw or learned In this way they 
accumulated much valuable material, and we are specially fortunate in be- 
ing permitted to copy at will from what they wrote. 

"We have found a great deal to interest us," said Frank m his jour- 
nal, when he sat down to make a general commentary on what they had 
seen, " and I hardly know where to begin. Of course we have been much 



NOTES ON THE ARMY. 



173 



impressed with the great number and variety of the uniforms of the offi- 
cers and soldiers of the army ; and though we have tried hard to recog- 
nize the different arms of the service at sight, we have not always suc- 
ceeded. We wonder how the Emperor himself can know them all, but of 
course he must. 

" We have looked for < The Imperial Nosegay ? which one traveller de- 
scribes, but have failed thus far to find it. The story goes that one of the 
Emperors had a regiment composed of men whose noses were turned up 




AN IMPERIAL NOSEGAY. 

at an angle of forty-five degrees ; whenever a man was found anywhere 
in the Empire with that particular kind of nose he was at once drafted 
into the regiment. A good many of the peasants have the nose inclined 



174 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

very much in the air, but facial ornaments of the kind described for the 
famous regiment are not strictly the fashion. 

"Fred thinks a regiment composed in this way ought to be good sol- 
diers, as they would be able to smell the smoke of battle a long way off, 
and before other regiments would be aware of it. Certainly they ought 
to breathe easily, and this ability was considered of great importance by 
the first Napoleon. ' Other things being equal,' he used to say, ' I always 




MUJIKS PLAYING CARDS. 



choose an officer with a large nose. His respiration is more free than that 
of the small-nosed man; and with good breathing powers, his mind is 
clearer and his physical endurance greater.' Perhaps he realized on his 
retreat from Moscow that many of his pursuers were of the kind he de- 

scribes. , , , 

« We have been much interested in the mujiks, or peasants— the low- 
est class of the population, and also the largest. Their condition has im- 
proved greatly in the last twenty or thirty years, if what we read and 



HISTORY OF SERFDOM. 



175 



hear is correct. We had read of the system of serfdom in Eussia before 
we came here, but did not exactly understand it. Since our arrival in 
St. Petersburg we have tried to find out about the serfs, and here is what 
we have learned : 

"To begin at the end, rather than at the beginning, there are no longer 
any serfs in Eussia, and consequently we are talking about something that 
belongs to the past. Serfdom, or slavery, formerly existed throughout all 
Europe — in England, France, Germany, Spain, and other countries. It 
has been gradually extinguished, Eussia being the last Christian country 
to maintain it. Slavery still exists in certain forms in Turkey ; but as the 
Turks are Moslems, and not Christians, I don't see why we should expect 
anything better in that country. 

' " Serfdom began later in Eussia than in any other European country, 
and perhaps that fact excuses the Eussians for being the last to give it up. 
Down to the eleventh century the peasant could move about pretty much 
as he liked. The land was the property of all, and he could cultivate any 
part of it as long as lie did not trespass upon any one else. In many of 
the villages the land is still held on this communistic principle, and is 
allotted every year, or every two or three years, by the elders. In some 
communities the land must be surrendered to the commune every nine 
years, while in others the peasant has a life tenancy, or what is called in 
law a fee-simple. 

"I hear some one ask how it came about that serfdom was estab- 
lished. 

" According to our authorities, it came from the state of the country, 
which was just a little better than a collection of independent principal- 
ities. The princes were cruel and despotic, and the people turbulent ; 
murders of princes were very common; the princes could only protect 
themselves by organizing large body-guards, which gave each prince a 
small army of men around him. In course of time the officers of these 
body-guards became noblemen, and received grants of land. At first the 
peasants could move about on these estates with perfect freedom, but 
during the sixteenth century they were attached to the soil. In other 
words, they were to remain where they were when the decree was issued, 
and whenever the land was sold they were sold with it. 

"It is said that the object of this decree was not so much in the in- 
terest of the land-owners as in that of the Government, which was unable 
to collect its taxes from men who were constantly moving about. Where 
the land belonged to the Government and not to individuals, the peasants 
living upon it became serfs of the Crown, or Crown peasants. Thus the 



176 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

Russian serf might belong to a prince, nobleman, or other person or he 
might belong to the Government. Private estates were often mortgaged 
to the Government; if the mortgage was nnpaid and the property for- 
feited, the serfs became Crown peasants instead of private ones. 

« There was a curious condition about serfdom in Eussia, that while 
the man and his family belonged to the master, the land which he culti- 
vated was his own, or at any rate could not be taken from him. The 




PEASANT'S HOUSE IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA. 



serf owed a certain amount of labor to his master (ordinarily three days 
out of every seven), and could not leave the place without permission. A 
serf might hire his time from his master, in the same way that slaves used 
to hire their time in America; but he was required to return to the 
estate whenever the master told him to do so. Many of the mechanics, 
isvoshchiks, and others in the large cities before the emancipation were 
serfs, who came to find employment, and regularly sent a part of their 

wages to their masters. 

"Sometimes the masters were very severe upon the serfs, and treated 
them outrageously. A master could send a serf into exile in Siberia with- 
out giving any reason. The record said he was banished 'by the will of 
his master,' and that was all. A woman, a serf on an estate, who had a 



THE TREATMENT OF SERFS. 



177 



fine voice, came to Moscow, and found a place in the chorus at the opera- 
house. She gradually rose to a high position, and was earning a large 
salary, half of which she sent to her master. Out of caprice he ordered 
her back to the estate, where she resumed the drudgery of a peasant life. 
He refused all offers of compensation, and said his serf should do what 
he wished. 

"Another serf had established a successful business in Moscow, where 
he was employing two or three hundred workmen. The master allowed 
him to remain there for years, taking for his compensation a large part of 
the serf's earnings, and finally, in a fit of anger, ordered the man home 
again. The man offered to pay a hundred times as much as he could earn 
on the estate, but the master would not listen to it, and the business was 
broken up and ruined. 

"Things went on in this way for two or three centuries. Various 
changes were made in the laws, and the condition of the serfs, especially 
of those belonging to the Crown, w T as improved from time to time. At 
last, in 1861, came the decree of emancipation from the hands of Alex- 
ander II., and the system of serfdom came to an end. 

" It was not, as many people suppose, a system of sudden and universal 
freedom. The emancipation was gradual, as it covered a period of sev- 
eral years, and required a great deal of negotiation. The land-owners 
were compensated by the Government for their loss ; the serfs received 
grants of land, varying from five to twenty-five acres, with a house and a 
small orchard, and the result was that every agricultural serf became a 
small land-owner. Private or Government serfs were treated alike in this 
respect, and the condition of the peasant class was greatly improved. 

" Since they have been free to go where they like, the serfs have crowd- 
ed to the cities in search of employment, and the owners of factories and 
shops say they can now obtain laborers much easier than before. Manu- 
facturing interests have been materially advanced along with agriculture, 
and though many persons feared the results of the emancipation, it is now 
difficult to find one who would like to have the old state of things restored. 

"Kussian emancipation of the serfs and American abolition of slavery 
came within a short time of each other. Both the nations have been 
greatly benefited by the result, and to-day an advocate of serfdom is as 
rare in Russia as an advocate of slavery in the United States." 

Frank read to his cousin the little essay we have just quoted ; then he 
read it to the Doctor, and asked whether it would be well to insert it in 
his journal. 

"By all means do so," the Doctor replied. " There are not many peo- 

12 



178 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

pie in America who understand exactly what serfdom was, and your essay 

will do much to enlighten them." _ 

Accordingly Frank carefully copied what he had written. Impressed 
with Doctor Bronson's suggestion, we have reproduced it here, m the con- 
fidence that our youthful readers will find it interesting and instructive. 

"You can add to your account of serfdom," said Doctor Bronson, 
"that when it was established by Boris Godunoff, in 1601, it was regarded 
by both peasant and noble as a great popular reform, and welcomed with 




PEASANTS HUTS. 



delight. His decree went into force on Saint George's Day, in the year 
named, and its principal provision was that every peasant m the Empire 
should in future till and own forever the land winch he then ti led and 
held. It was an act of great liberality on the part of the Czar for by it 
he gave up millions of acres belonging to the Crown and made them the 
property of the peasants. , . 

" The serf of the Crown was to till the land, build his house, pay his 
taxes, and serve as a soldier whenever wanted; the private serf existed 
under very nearly the same conditions, with the difference that his lite 



SERFS ON PRIVATE ESTATES. 



179 



might be more oppressed under a cruel master, and more free under a 
kind one, than that of the serf of the Crown. This was what happened in 
many instances ; and as the masters were more likely to be cruel than 




ESTHONIAN PEASANTS. 



kind, and their tendency was to make as much as possible out of their pos- 
sessions, the Crown serf was generally better off than the private one. 

"In the beginning the system was really the reform which was in- 
tended, but very soon it was subject to many abuses. Year by year things 



180 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

grew worse: owners violated the law by selling serfs away from their es- 
tates; the masters exacted from their serfs every copeek they could earn, 
flowed them if they lagged in their labor, and often caused them to be 
severely punished or exiled on the merest caprice. Peter the Great in- 
troduced some changes with the best intentions, but they only made mat- 
ters worse. He stopped the sale of serfs from the estates, winch was an 
excellent step; at the same time he ordered that all taxes should he col- 
lected in a lump from the master, who should have the power m turn to 
collect from the serfs. The evil of this enactment was very soon appar- 
ent; Peter's successors struggled with the problem, but none made much 
headway until Alexander II. came with his act of emancipation, which 
you have just mentioned. 

"There were several conditions attached to the freedom of the sert 
under Alexander's decree," the Doctor continued, " which are not gener- 
ally understood. To prevent the peasant resuming again the nomadic lite 
which serfdom was intended to suppress, it was ordered that no peasant 
could leave his village without surrendering forever all right to the lands, 
and he was also required to be clear of all claims for rent, taxes, conscrip- 
tion, private debts, and the like. He was to provide for the support of 
any members of his family dependent upon him whom he left behind and 
also present a certificate of membership in another commune, or exhibit 
the title-deeds to a plot of laud of not less than a given area. _ 

"These requirements were found an excellent restriction, as under 
them only the thrifty and enterprising serfs were able to clear oft all de- 
mands upon them and pay the amount required for entering another com- 
munity Men of this class found their way to the cities and larger towns, 
where many of them have risen in wealth and influence, while the quiet, 
plodding peasants who remained on the estates and tilled their lands have 
generally prospered. A gentleman who has studied this question wrote 

recently as follows : • ■ 

"'Opposite and extreme opinions prevail as to the results of emanci- 
pation ; yet, on massing and balancing his observations on the whole, a 
stranger must perceive that under emancipation the peasant is better 
dressld, better lodged, and better fed ; that his wife is healthier, Ins chil- 
dren cleaner, and his homestead tidier ; that he and h» belongmgs are 
improved by the gift which changed him from a chattel to a man. He 
builds his cabin of better wood, and in the eastern provinces, if no tin all 
you find improvements in the walls and roof. He paints the logs, and fills 
up the cracks with plaster, where he formerly left them bare and stuffed 
with moss. He sends his boys to school, and goes himself more frequent- 



SEEING THE EMPEROR. 



181 



ly to church. * * * The burgher class and the merchant class have been 
equally benefited by the change. A good many peasants have become 
burghers, and a good many burghers merchants. All the domestic and 
useful trades have been quickened into life. More shoes are worn, more 
carts are wanted, more cabins are built. Hats, coats, and cloaks are in 
higher demand ; the bakeries and breweries find more to do ; the teacher 
gets more pupils, and the banker has more customers on his books.'" * 

With a few more words upon serfdom and its relation to other forms 
of slavery, the subject was dropped, and our friends went out for a walk. 




ALEXANDER II., THE LIBERATOR OF THE SERFS. 



As they passed along the Xevski they were suddenly involved in a crowd, 
and half forced into the door of a shop which they had visited the day 
before. They were recognized by the proprietor, who invited them to 
enter and make themselves comfortable. " The Emperor is coming in a 
few minutes," he explained, " and the police are clearing the way for him." 



* "Free Russia," by Hep worth. Dixon, p. 275. 



182 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

One of the youths asked if it was always necessary to clear the streets 
in this way when the Emperor rode out. 

"Not by any means," the shopkeeper replied, « as he often ndes out m 
a drosky, with only a single attendant following him. He goes at full 
speed along the street, and his progress is so rapid that not one person m 
twenty can recognize him before he gets out of sight. If he goes less 




ALEXANDER III., EMPEROR OF RUSSIA. 

rapidly he is followed by several officers ; and when he rides in a carriage 
with two or more horses, he is accompanied by his hody-guard of Circas- 
sians, or by a company or section of Cossacks. 

"Nicholas and Alexander II. used to drive about quite frequently m a 
drosky, which was much like the ordinary ones on the streets, except that 
it was neater and more costly, and drawn hy the finest horse the Empre 
could produce. Since the assassination of Alexander II., and the plots of 
the Nihilists against the Imperial life, we rarely see the Emperor driving 
in this way, as it would afford too much opportumty for assassins Alex- 
ander III. generally rides in a carriage, accompanied by eome <rf his offi- 
cers and surrounded hy his hody-guard. Ah ! here they come. 

As he spoke a squadron of cavalry came in sight, and soon passed the 



CIRCASSIAN BODY-GUARD OF THE EMPEROR. 183 

shop. Behind the cavalry was a carriage, drawn by two spirited horses. 
The Emperor occupied the rear seat, while two officers faced him on the 
front seat, and another officer, or possibly an orderly, was on the box with 
the driver. The crowd applauded as their ruler rode slowly by them, 
and to hear the plaudits one could readily believe that the Emperor is 
thoroughly beloved by his subjects. He acknowledged the cheering by 
occasionally raising his hand in a military salute. Frank thought he sa- 
luted in rather a mechanical way, from force of long habit. The youths 
said they would have recognized him by his portraits, though they were 
hardly prepared for the care-worn look which was depicted on his features. 

" After all," whispered Frank to Fred, " one can't be surprised at it, 
and I don't know who would want to change places with him. He must 
live in constant thought of assassination, and every step he takes must be 
carefully watched by those about him. So many plots have been made 
against his life, and 'so many persons of importance have been implicated 
in them, that he cannot know how soon a new one will be formed, and can 
never tell who about him is faithful. < Uneasy lies the head that wears a 



crown.' " 



VV LL* 

Behind the carriage was a company of body-guards in Circassian 
chain -armor, and with weapons that belonged apparently to a past age. 
Fred eagerly asked who and what these men were. 

" They are Cherkass, or Circassians," replied the shopkeeper, " and 
were formerly at war with Kussia. You have read of Schamyl, the Cir- 
cassian general, who gave Russia a great deal of trouble for a long time, 
have you not V 

« Certainly," Fred answered, " I was reading about him only this morn- 
ing. He was born about 1797, and from 1828 till 1859 he carried on a 
defensive war against the Russians, but was finally overpowered by great- 
ly superior numbers. He used to avoid regular battles, and caused a great 
deal of damage to the Russians by ambuscades, surprises, and similar 
warfare." 

"That was exactly the case," said their informant, " and the Russians 
always acknowledged that he was an accomplished leader both in a mili- 
tary and political sense. When he surrendered, in 1859, the Emperor in- 
vited him to St. Petersburg, and gave him a residence at Kalooga, with a 
handsome pension. He was made a regular guest at court, was treated 
with great distinction, and soon became as ardent in the support of Russia 
as he had formerly been in opposing her. He was placed in command of 
the Emperor's body-guard, which he organized from the warriors that had 
formerly served under him. Schamyl died in 1871, but the organization 



184 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 

of the gnard was continued. It is whispered that the Circassians have 
been ied by Enssians who wear the old uniform; but certainly to 
a!! ontward appearances, the guard remains the same. At any rate * - 

Hee The shopkeeper said that any man who tried to break through the 




BATTLE BETWEEN RUSSIANS AND CIRCASSIANS. 

Hue would be arrested at once ; and no doubt the knowledge of this rule 
served materially to preserve order. Russian pobcemen are not to be 

^^toute that the Emperor is to take when riding out 

in these latter days, through fear of plots against hxs life. The piecaut on 

il a very proper one, butit requires a large police force to guard all the 



HOW THE POLICE KEEP ORDER. 



185 



avenues and streets by which he may pass. Orders are sent for the police 
to prepare three or four routes, one only being traversed, and the direction 
is not given to the leader of the escort until the Emperor is seated in the 
carriage. Sometimes none of the routes which have been guarded are 
taken, and the Emperor enjoys a ride with nothing but his escort for his 
protection. It is said the Czar is averse to all this, precaution, but is 
guided by the wishes of the Imperial Council and the members of his 
household. 

Our friends thanked the shopkeeper for his politeness and informa- 
tion, and, as the crowd had melted away, continued their walk. Frank 




schamyl's VILLAGE IN THE CAUCASUS. 



observed that the police did not move away, and this fact led him to sur- 
mise that the Emperor intended returning by the same route. 

" Of course that is quite possible," said the Doctor, in response to 
Frank's suggestion, "but it is not worth our while to remain on the 
chance of his doing so. It is more than likely he will return to the pal- 
ace by another road ; and even if he comes through the Nevski we could 
see no more than we have seen already. Besides, we might arouse sus- 
picion in the minds of the police by remaining long on this spot, and 
suspicion, however groundless, is not desirable. When the Emperor goes 



186 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

out the police have orders to arrest every one whose conduct is in the 
least degree questionable, and so we had better continue our walk. 

They suited their actions to the Doctor's word, and did not tarry on 
the Nevski. Very soon they met another cortege, which they ascertained 
to be the escort of the Chief of Police. _ 

Thev had a curiosity to see his face, but were disappointed, as he was 
closely surrounded by 'his officers and men. Doctor Branson remarked 




THE EMPRESS MARIE EEODOROVNA, WIEE OE ALEXANDER III. 

that the Chief of Police was the most powerful man in Kussia, next to 

SwTtbat r Fred asked. « I thought the most powerful man next 
to the Emperor was the commander-in-chief of the armies^' 

"There is this difference," the Doctor answered, that the Chief of 



RECREATION OF RUSSIAN PEASANTS. 



187 




188 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

Police is the only man in Eussia who has the right to go to tto lb 
pWs presence at any hour of the day or night. Not even the Frcld- 
^Zln^ief of the Army or the Grand Admiral of the Navy can do 

"'""The Ministers of War, Navy, and Foreign Affairs have a right to an 
audience i the Emperor every day, while the Ministers of Education 
and Telegraph, Finance, and other ^^m^Z 
him once or twice a week. But at any hour of the day the Minister ot 
pie an send his name, and immediately follows the ~ g ^o th 
Emperor's office; at any hour of the night he may have he Emperor 
waked and told that the Minister of Police has an important commumca- 

ti0n "Do m you'luppose that is often done?" one of the youths inquired. 

"Probably not very often," replied Doctor Bronson " but h ow fre- 
quence o'utside public cannot possibly know. In ordinary times it is 
no 1 kelv the minister would ever exercise his right, as it is no wise to 
wke an emperor from a sound sleep, especially when yon have bad news 
to him But when assassins are making plots all around the capital and 
pa a e the Emperor's safety may easily require that he should have , a per- 
Ltrirni In such case the Minister of Police would not hesitate to 

Pe 1™irt?k tool them to the Summer Gardens, where they sat down on 
one of he benches and watched the groups of children and nurse-ma d. 
toLhe with other groups of old and young that comprised the visitor 
Se pi- ^ they sal there the conversation reenrred to their recent 

t0P »i police is organized very much like the same service in 

IntrL There are some points of difference, but they are not 
i; i t be^tWd at length. One objection to the Eussian 
Pubuc police is that in the cities and large towns the policemen are nearly 
S^ers who have ff^^J^^^S^Sl 
Sr^stSelce tole E of an offiee.noLtt. whatits 
The result is the policemen salute every officei that 

rScer can misbehave himself as much as he pleases, and run very little 
risk of being arrested like an ordinary offender. 

" What can you tell us about the secret police?" one of the youths 

aSl "'I can't tell you much about it," was the reply ; "and if I conld it 



THE SECRET POLICE. 



189 



would not be a secret police. It used to be a saying that where three 
men were together one was sure to be a spy, and one or both the others 
might be. The spies were in all classes of society, and paid by the police. 
They did not know each other, and it quite often happened that two oi 
them would report against each other, doubtless to the amusement of the 
officials who compared their documents. If common gossip is true, the 
evil was greater in the time of Nicholas than under any other emperor, 
but many people say it is about as bad at one time as another. 

£< The clerk in the hotel, the waiter in the restaurant, the shopkeeper 
who was so polite to us, the tailor, hatter, boot-maker, milliner, or any 




" WHO IS THE SPY ?" 

other tradesman, any or all of them — women as well as men — may be 
in the employ of the Government, and report your movements and 
conversation. Nobody knows wdio is a spy, and nobody knows who is 
not. Consequently it is an excellent rule in Russia never to say any- 
thing in the hearing of any one else than ourselves that can be called 
in question. Mind, I don't know of my own knowledge that there is 
such a thing as a secret police, nor that such a person as a police spy 
exists in Russia. Having never said or done anything to which the 



190 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

Emperor or his most zeakms officer could object, I have no fear of being 

interfered with. . ,, . ( 

"Here are some of the stories which were current m the time ot 

NlC "°A retired officer of the English army lived for several years in St. 
Petersburg. His manners were genial, and he made many fnends ^bodj 
among the foreigners living here and those who visited Russia. He , d ed 
suddenly one day, and one of his countrymen who was present at tne 
time took charge of his effects. His papers revealed the fact that he was 
a spy of the Government, and was specially employed to watch foreigners. 

"Soon after the Eevolution of 1848 a party of French gentlemen m 
St Petersburg met at the house of one of their friends. They had songs 
and speeches, and a pleasant evening generally ; and as all were intimate, 
and of the same nationality, they were not at all cautious about their con- 
versation The only servants present were Russians, and none of them 
was known to understand French. Next morning the host was summoned 
to the Police Bureau, where he was politely received. The official read 
off the list of persons present, and a very accurate report of the songs, 
toasts and speeches of the evening. Then he asked the host if the 
account was correct. The latter tremblingly answered that it was and 
was then told he had been very imprudent-an assertion he could not well 
deny He was dismissed with a caution not to repeat the imprudence, and 
you may be sure he did not. He never gave another party, and never 
could he guess whether the spy was one of his guests and compatriots, 
or one of the servants who understood French while pretending to be 

lgD " Agreatreform has taken place, and matters which were formerly in 
the control of the police are now managed by courts of law Trial by 
iury has been established, and though there are many hmderances on 
account of the scarcity of lawyers and judges and the ignorance of jurors 
the system is working well. The law-schools are filled with students and 
iu a few years the machinery of the courts will not be unlike that of 

0th "Bu n t d L police power is still too great for the safety of the people 
and probably no persons are more aware of it than are the Emperor and 
his aavisers The police can imprison or exile a man tor ' administrative 
purposes ' without any trial whatever, and without even letting him know 
the nature of his offence. The police may, in certain cases, revise a sen- 
tence which has been decreed by a court, and punish a man who has been 
acquitted after trial, but they do not often exercise the right. 



STORIES OF THE SPY SYSTEM. 



191 



" The author of ' Free Eussia ' sajs that while he was staying at Arch- 
angel an actor and actress were brought there one day and set down in 
the public square, with orders to take care of themselves, but on no 
account to leave town without the governor's permission. They had been 
sent from the capital on a mere order of the police, without trial, without 
even having been heard in defence, and with no knowledge of the offence 
alleged against them. They had no means of support, but managed to 
eke out an existence by converting a barn into a theatre, and giving 
performances that hardly rose to the dignity of the name of plays. 

" An agent of the police had driven up to their doors and told them 
to get ready to start for Archangel in three hours. That was all ; in 
three hours they were on their way to exile. 

" The same writer said there was also at Archangel a lady of middle 
age who had been banished from St. Petersburg on the mere suspicion that 
she had been concerned in advising 
some of the students at the univer- 
sity to send an appeal to the Em- 
peror for certain reforms which 
they desired. There was no other 
charge against her, and those who 
made her acquaintance at Arch- 
angel were impressed with her en- 
tire innocence, as she did not pos- 
sess in any way the qualities nec- 
essary for intrigue. Like the actor 
and actress just mentioned, she had 
had no trial, and no opportunity 
to be heard in defence. 

"A young novelist named Gierst 
published some stories which evi- 
dently gave offence. He was call- 
ed upon at midnight, and told to 
get ready to depart immediately. 
Away he went, not knowing whith- 
er, until the horses stopped at the 
town of Totma, six hundred miles 
from St. Petersburg. There he 
was told to stay until fresh orders came from the Ministry of Police. 
None of his friends knew where he had gone ; his lodgings were empty, 
and all the information that could be obtained was from a servant who 




192 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 

had seen him start. His letters were seized, the newspapers were for- 
bidden to say anything about him, and it was only by a rnse that he was 
able to let his friends know where he was. 

"Any number of these incidents are narrated," the Doctor continued, 
"and they all show the dangerous power that is in the hands of the po- 
lice It is said that it would have been curtailed years ago but for the 
rise and spread of Nihilism, which has rendered it necessary to continue 
the privilege of the police to revise sentences, or imprison and exile with- 
out Lai, 'for administrative purposes.' Let us hope that the better day 

will come very soon." _ „ . . , . . 

" I join heartily in that hope," said Frank. Fred echoed the words oi 
his cousin, and they rose and continued their promenade. 




RUSSIAN GRAND-DUKE AND GRAND-DUCHESS. 



JANUARY IN ST. PETERSBURG. 



193 



CHAPTEK X. 

AVINTER IN RUSSIA . — FASHIONABLE AND OTHER FURS. — SLEIGHS AND SLEDGES. 
—NO SLEIGH-BELLS IN RUSSIAN CITIES. — OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE NEVA. — 
RUSSIAN ICE-HILLS. — " BUTTER -WEEK." — KISSING AT EASTER. — AN ACTIVE 
KISSING-TIME. — RUSSIAN STOVES AND BATHS. — EFFECTS OF SEVERE COLD. — 
THE STORY OF THE FROZEN NOSE. — HOW MEN ARE FROZEN TO DEATH. 

greatly enjoying their summer visit to St. Petersburg, Frank 
' * and Fred regretted that they did not have the opportunity of see- 
ing the capital in winter. They heard much about the gayety of the win- 
ter season, and wondered if their journey ings would ever bring them there 
at the time when the snow covered the ground and the Neva was sealed 
with ice. 

For their consolation Doctor Bronson told them of his winter experi- 
ence of the city. His story was about as follows : 

" I arrived here in the latter part of January, when the temperature 
was running very low. The ordinary mercury thermometer, which freezes 
at 39° below zero, was of no use, as the mercury would be frozen solid al- 
most every day. Spirit thermometers are the only practicable ones for 
northern Kussia, and during my stay here they marked —53° Fahrenheit, 
This is an unusual and extreme figure, the mean winter temperature being 
about 18° above zero. The average summer temperature is 62°, and the 
extreme summer figure 99°. 

" Everybody wears furs or sheepskins in winter ; they are donned 
when the frosts come, and not laid aside till the trees are budding. Furs 
are for the rich, or those who pretend to be so, and sheepskins for the 
lower classes. Both kinds of garments are worn with the fur or wool 
inside ; the fur coat or cloak has a backing of cloth, while the sheepskin 
coat has only the skin of the animal without any cloth addition." 

One of the boys asked what kinds of furs were most in use. 

"Nearly everything that bears the name of fur," was the reply; "but 
fashion rules here as everywhere else, and it often happens that a fur will 
be in great demand at one time and quite neglected a few years later. 
Sable is the most expensive fur, and a coat or cloak lined with it is worth 

13 



194 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

all the way from five hundred to five thousand dollars, depending upon 
the excellence of the skins. Another fur, that of the black fox, is still 
more costly; but as it is worn only by the Imperial family and the high- 
est nobility, it does not come into our category. 

« Coats lined with astrachan (the soft wool of very young lambs) are 
fashionable, and bring high prices. I have known of coats of this kind 
selling for six or eight hundred dollars each. I took to America a cap of 
astrachan wool ; it cost me about three dollars, and with my inexperienced 
eye I could not distinguish it from one that sold for ten times as much. 




FUR-BEARING SEALS. 



My Russian friends could readily detect the difference ; but as I was buy- 
ing the cap for American and not for Russian use, I was quite content 

with my purchase." 

" Why is this fur or wool called ' astrachan? " one of the youths asked. 

"It comes here from Astrachan, at the mouth of the Volga," said the 
Doctor. "Its preparation is one of the industries of Central Asia, for 
which Astrachan is the great market. This fur is black, and remarkably 
soft and silky. The lamb is killed immediately after he sees the light, 
and the younger he is at the time of his death the finer and more valuable 
is the skin. Persia supplies large quantities of this fur, and it varies from 
black to gray or white. 



FASHIONABLE FURS IN RUSSIA. 



195 




SEA-OTTER. 



"I mentioned the black fox as a very costly far. The Emperor has a 
cloak which, is valued at ten thousand dollars; only an emperor or some 
one else with plenty of money at his command could afford such a gar- 
ment. The fur of the black fox is rarely seen outside of Russia, as only a 

small quantity of it comes to mar- 
ket. Plenty of counterfeit fur of 
this kind can be found in England ; 
it is made by dyeing the skin of the 
common fox, and the work is done 
so skilfully as to defy detection by 
any one not an expert in the fur 
trade. 

"Sea -otter, mink, marten, bea- 
ver, fur-seal, lynx, and raccoon are the furs in general use for lining gar- 
ments in Kussia. Otter, seal, and mink furs are expensive, and so is that 
of another animal I had almost omitted from the list, the ermine. Er- 
mine fur was formerly the badge of royalty, and in some countries it 
could be worn only by the members of the Eoyal or Imperial family, or 
by the judges in the high courts. In England you often hear the judges 
spoken of as 'wearers of the ermine;' the fur has been used for lining 
the robes of the judges, its snowy whiteness being considered an emblem 
of purity. The tip of the tail of the ermine is black, and in making 
robes the white surface is dotted at regular intervals with the black tips. 
Where they are not sufficient for the 
purpose, the paws of the Astrachan 
lamb are used instead. 

" The fur you see most frequently 
in Russia in the winter season is that 
of the raccoon. I bought a coat lined 
with this fur when I arrived in St. 
Petersburg, and paid the equivalent of 
eighty dollars for it. I did not recog- 
nize the skin as that of a compatriot, 
and was only aware of its origin when 
informed by a Russian friend. A fur- 
dealer in New York afterwards told 
me that half a million raccoon -skins are sent annually to London, and 
nearly all of them find their way to Russia. 

" Another animal whose fur comes from America to Russia is that 
odoriferous creature, the skunk. A friend of mine bought a coat of this 




THE BEAVER. 




196 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

kind imder the impression that the far grew on the back of a young hear. 
In cold- weather, and out-of-doors, it was all right, and no one could have 
known the difference; but when the weather grew warm, and a haw 
made the atmosphere moist, my friend's coat was not a pleasant article of 
wear. I believe he sold it to the man- 
ager of a glue factory, whose nose had 
lost its sensitiveness through his pecul- 
iar occupation. 

"So much for the materials, and 
now for the garment. A Eussian 
shooha, or cloak, extends from the head 
to the heels of the wearer ; the sleeves 
cover the finger-tips, or very nearly so, 
and the collar, when turned up, will completely encircle and conceal the 
head The head-covering is a cap of the pattern you see of ten m pictures, 
and once called in America the < pork-pie.' The coat is excellent for rid- 
ing purposes. One can walk a short distance in such a garment, but it 
is really inconvenient for a promenade. . . , 

" But as everybody who can afford to ride does so, the awkwardness of 
the shooha is of little consequence. The streets abound in sledges , an d 
yon may be whisked here, there, and everywhere at a very rapid rate for 
a reasonable price. The streets are far gayer in winter than m summer, 
or L reason that there are so many more vehicles in motion, and I know 

of no more active spectacle than the 
Nevski on a clear day in January." 

"The bells on the sleighs must 
make a merry tinkling," said one of 
the boys, with a smile. 

"Quite wrong," said the Doctor, 
returning the smile, " as there are no 
bells at all." 

« No bells on the sleighs !" was the 
surprised reply. "Then the law is 
not like ours in America ?" 

"Exactly the reverse," answered 
the Doctor. "In the United States 
we require them, and in Eussia they forbid them We argue that ^unless 
bells are worn on the horses the approach of a sleigh could not be per 
ce Wed the Russians argue that in the confusion caused by the sound 
bd s one could not hear the warning shout of the driver, and would be 




THE RACCOON. 



SOCIAL LIFE IN WINTER. 197 

liable to be run over. Both are right ; sleighs are not sufficiently numer- 
ous with us to cause confusion, while in Eussia their great numbers would 
certainly bring about the result the Russians dread. 

" But it is in the cities and towns only," the Doctor continued, " that 
the bell is forbidden. On the country roads any one travelling in a post- 
carriage carries bells on the duga— the yoke above the neck of the shaft- 
horse — but he must remove them before entering a town. Most of these 
bells are made at Valdai, a town on the road from St. Petersburg to Mos- 
cow, and the place of their origin is preserved in some of the sleighing 
songs of the country. 

"Balls, parties, receptions, dances, dinners, theatricals, operas, anything 
and everything belonging to fashionable life, can be found in St. Peters- 
burg in winter. Any one with introductions can be as gay as he wishes, 
and it is a wonder to a quiet and ease-loving man that the Russians can 
survive this sort of thing year after year. A fashionable Russian rarely 
gets to bed before two or three o'clock in the morning ; it is true he may 
sleep late, but if he has any official engagements his hours of slumber will 
be few. A winter in St. Petersburg is a heavy drain on one's vital forces, 
and also upon the pocket. Living is dear, and it is well said that this 
city is the most costly capital of Europe, with the possible exception of 
Madrid. 

" The Neva freezes near the end of October or early in November, 
and remains frozen until May. Nobody is allowed to venture on the ice 
until it has been officially declared that the river is frozen over; and in 
the spring, when the ice melts, the official declaration is necessary before a 
single boat can put out from shore, or even be launched. When the river 
is opened there is an elaborate ceremony, and a part of the performance 
includes taking a glass of water from the river and presenting it to the 
Emperor. His Majesty drinks the water and fills the gl ass with gold coin. 
It was observed that the size of the glass increased annually, until it as- 
sumed the proportions of a respectable flower-vase. The Imperial stom- 
ach could not hold so much water at once, and the Imperial purse objected 
to the price. A compromise was effected by fixing a^ certain sum to be 
paid, instead of filling the glass with gold. 

"Skating and riding on the ice have a prominent place in the amuse- 
ments of Russia in winter. Coasting on artificial ice-hills is also a stand- 
ard sport, in which all classes of people take part. It is especially in order 
during 'Butter-week' and the Easter festivities, and is one of the winter 
sights of all cities in the Empire." 

" How do they make these ice-hills ?" Fred asked. 



198 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 




RUSSIAN ICE-HILLS. 



"A scaffold is raised to the height of thirty or forty feet the posts 
being set in holes drilled in the frozen earth or pavement, and fixed in 
their places by pouring water around them. In a few minutes the water 
rerted into ice and the post is immovable. On one side of the 



is conv 



SLIDING ON ICE-HILLS. 199 

scaffold there are steps for ascending it, and generally there is a track at 
the side for drawing up the sleds. The other side slopes off very steeply 
at the start ; then it becomes more gentle, and finally extends a consider- 
able distance on a level. 

" Blocks of ice are laid on the slope ; water is poured over them to be 
converted into ice and make a smooth surface ; and when the slide is com- 
pleted and opened it is thronged by patrons. It takes away one's breath 
at first when he is pitched over the edge of the slope and finds himself 
rushing with a speed surpassing that of a railway -train. The impetus 
gained in the first part of the descent is sufficient to carry the sled a long 
distance on the level. I tried the slide two or three times, and think if I 
had been ten or twenty years younger I should have enjoyed it very 
much." 

" Where do they put up these ice-hills '?" Frank inquired. 
" Several are erected in Admiralty Square," said the Doctor, " and oth- 
ers in various other squares and along the bank of the river. They are 




SOLDIERS OFF DUTY — BUTTER- WEEK. 



frequently arranged so that the level part of the slide is over the ice of 
the Neva, and care is taken that the track shall be smooth as glass. There 
are usually two of these hills side by side, the slides being in opposite 
directions. 



200 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 




THE EASTER KISS — AGREEABLE. 



-Those I speak of are for the general public. Smaller slides are m 
the court -yards of private houses, and there are imitations of them in 
many summer-houses, where polished wood takes the place of xce. One 
y of the slides in the Imperial pal- 

ace is of mahogany, which has 
been polished till it shines like 
a finely finished bureau or ward- 
robe. 

" The time to see St. Peters- 
burg in all its winter glory is 
during ' Maslinitza] or 'Butter- 
week,' which ushers in the ' Great 
Fast' preceding Easter. The 
whole population is engaged in 
enjoying itself. Minni, or pan- 
cakes, are the favorite articles of 
food, and thousands of digestions 
are upset by the enormous quan- 
tities of these things that are 
devoured. They are made of flour and butter, fried in butter and eaten 
with butter-sauce. Butter and other fatty foods are in order through the 
week • and from a sanitary point of view this great consumption of grease, 
rilowed by seven weeks of fasting, leads to frightful results. Statistics 
show that the mortality rate is largely in- 
creased at this time of the year, and certainly 
it is not to be wondered at, Rich and poor 
alike give themselves up to butter, and the 
only difference is that the rich have the best 
qualities of the article, and sometimes a greater 
quantity. 

"The rich people sometimes have Uinm 
parties during the festive season. I once at- 
tended one of these affairs at the invitation of 
a Russian friend. When we met in the par- 
lors I was surprised that so few were present, 
as I had dined there before and knew he could 
accommodate twice the number. But I saw 

the reason when the word was given that the pancakes were ready and 

our host led the way. ■ > • . 

-We were not taken to the dining-room but to the kitchen, and then 




THE EASTER KISS— IX THE FAMILY. 



KISSING AT EASTER. 



201 




THE EASTER KISS — DIFFICULT. 



it was explained that Uinni parties are given in the kitchen, and no more 
people are invited than the place can accommodate. The Uinni are eaten 
on the spot, as fast as they are cooked, and it is a prime object to have 
them hot from the griddle. We had a very jolly time there, but for 

several days my stomach was like an em- 
bryo Vesuvius in consequence of making a 
whole meal of this rich food. Think of" an 
entire dinner of buckwheat - cakes or fried 
'turnovers,' the stuff that dreams are made 
of." 

One of the boys wished to know about 
the Easter kissing for which Eussia is fa- 
mous. 

"Well, it is one of the sights of Russia, 
with agreeable and disagreeable features. It 
is not literally the case that everybody kisses 
everybody else, but that statement is not so 
very far out of the way after all. I passed 
through one Easter, and it was quite enough 
lor a lifetime. I was kissed by men and women almost innumerable. If 
the kissing could have been confined to the young and pretty women, or 
even to the comely ones of middle 
or advanced life, I should have 
borne the infliction patiently ; but 
when I was obliged to receive the 
salutation from men, of all ages 
and all conditions of cleanliness, 
or its reverse, it was too much for 
comfort. All Eussia kisses all 
the rest of Eussia at Easter, and 
any foreigner who may be here 
at the time is treated like a sub- 
ject of the Czar. The old ada^e 
that 'Kissing goes by favor' is 
entirely set aside ; custom makes 
it well-nigh universal." 

"When does the ceremony begin, and how long is it kept upf said 
one of the youths. 

"It begins at midnight, as the clock sounds the hour of twelve and 
ushers in the Easter day. A little before midnight the whole of Eussia 




THE EASTER KISS— DISAGREEABLE. 



202 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

o-oes to church. The Emperor and all his family assemble in the Imperial 
chapel, and every church and chapel in the Empire is filled. As the clock 
begins striking the hour the whole congregation is wrapped in silence ; at 
the last stroke of the bell the doors of the sanctuary of the church are 
thrown open and the waiting priests come forth. 

« < Christus voskress ' (' Christ is risen ') is intoned by the priests, and the 
son- is taken np by the choir, to be followed by the response, ' Christus 
voskress ihs mortvui ' (< Christ is risen from the dead '). The priests walk 
through the congregation repeating the words and swinging their censers. 

« The beginning of the chant is the signal for the kissing. Friends 
and acquaintances are generally standing together, and each kisses every 
other one of the group. Those who have the slightest possible acquaint- 
ance kiss each other, and at each and every kiss the two phrases I have 
aiven are repeated. At the same instant that the signal is given by the 
opening of the doors of the sanctuary, the churches are illuminated both 
inside and out, every bell is rung, and the pealing of cannon and the flash- 
ing of rockets show how much the festival is a national one. 

* « The kissing is continued through the night and all the next day, and 
even for several days all relatives, friends, and acquaintances salute each 
other with Christus voskress and a kiss ; every isvoshchik, porter, dustman 
-in fact every peasant of every name and kind kisses every other peasant 
he has ever known, and a great many whom he never saw before. Clerks 
in the public offices kiss each other, officers and soldiers of the army salute 
in the same way, the general kissing all his subordinate officers, the colonel 
of a regiment kissing all the officers beneath him, and also a deputation of 
the soldiers, while the captain and lieutenants kiss all the soldiers of their 
companies. The same order is observed in the navy and m all the official 
ranks, and the number of osculations in the Empire in that one day of the 
year is quite beyond the power of calculation." 

' « Are the Emperor and Empress subject to the same rule as other peo- 
ple?" was the very natural inquiry which followed. 

" Certainly," was the reply ; " the ceremony is closely connected with 
the religion of the country, and as the Emperor is the head of the Church, 
he could not possibly secure exemption from this ancient custom. The 
Emperor and Empress must salute all the members of the Imperial family 
as a matter of course, and also all the court officials and attendants; and 
after this ceremony is over the Empress must give her hand to be kissed 
by every officer above the rank of colonel who has the right of attendance 
at court. The Emperor kisses all his officers on parade, and also a dele- 
gation of soldiers selected as representatives of the army. The military 



THE FAST BEFORE EASTER. 



203 



parades for the Imperial kiss last several days, as it would be impossible 
to go through the ceremonial with all the regiments around St. Petersburg 
in a single revolution of the earth. 

"Easter makes an end of the long fast of seven weeks, which has been 
kept by all faithful members of the Church with great rigor. The lower 
classes refrain even from fish during the first and last weeks of the fast, 
and also on Wednesdays and Fridays of the other five. It is no wonder 




THE EMPEROR'S EASTER KISS. 



204 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

that they precede it with the festivities of « Butter- week,' so that the 
recollection of the good time they have had will be a consolation during 
the fast. With the kissing of Easter begins a period of feasting, both in 

eating and drinking, which 
is by no means famous for 
its moderation. Many of 
the mujiks are sadly intox- 
icated before the setting of 
the sun at Easter, and they 
are by no means the only 
persons who exhibit the ef- 
fects of too liberal pota- 
tions." 

From Easter and its kiss- 
es the conversation wander- 
ed to other subjects. Fred 
asked how the houses were 
kept warm in the intense 
cold of a Bussian winter. 

" Some of the more 
modern buildings of St. Pe- 
tersburg and Moscow," said 
the Doctor, " are warmed by 
furnaces not unlike those 
used in America. But the 
true peittfika, or Bussian 
stove, is of brick, and is 
generally built so as to form 
the common centre of three 
or four rooms and warm 
them all at once. In the 
huts of the peasants the top 
of the stove is utilized as a 
bed, and it is usually large 
enough for three or four 
persons to lie there with 
comparative comfort." 
Do they keep the tire going there all the time during the winter?" 
"Not exactly," was the reply, "though in a certain sense they do. 
Every morning the lire is kindled in the stove, which resembles an enor 




PEASANT GIRL IN WINTER DRESS. 



RUSSIAN STOVES. 205 

mous oven, and is kept burning for several hours. When it has burned 
down to a bed of coals, so that no more carbonic gas can be evolved, the 
chimney is closed, and port -holes near the top of the stove are opened 
into the room or rooms. The hot air comes out and warms the apart- 
ments, and there is enough of it to keep a good heat for twelve or fifteen 
boors. 

"The port-holes must be carefully closed during the combustion of 
the wood, in order to prevent the escape of poisonous gas. Sometimes 
they are opened when there is still some flame burning. A Eussian will 
instantly detect the presence of this gas, and open a window or rush into 
the open air, but strangers, in their ignorance, are occasionally overpow- 
ered by it. 

"Several instances are on record of strangers losing their lives by 
ougar, as the Eussians call this poisonous gas from the stove. Among 
them, some twenty years ago, was the son of a Persian ambassador, who 
was smothered in one of the principal hotels of Moscow. When a person 
is overpowered by ougar, and found insensible, he is carried out-of-doors 
and rolled in the snow — a severe but efficacious remedy. 

" Then, too, the cold is excluded by means of double or triple windows, 
little cones of paper filled with salt being placed between the windows to 
absorb whatever moisture collects there. Eussian houses are very poorly 
ventilated, and frequently, on entering from the open air, you are almost 
stifled by the foul atmosphere that seems to strike you in the face like a 
pugilist. 

"It is probably the condition of the air in which they live, combined 
with late hours and the exactions of fashionable life, that gives such an 
aspect of paleness to nearly all the Eussian women above the peasant 
class. A fresh, ruddy complexion, such as one sees almost universally 
throughout England, and quite generally in America, is almost unknown 
among Enssian ladies. If the Emperor would issue a decree requiring the 
houses of the Empire to be properly ventilated, he would confer a blessing 
on his faithful subjects, and save or prolong thousands of lives. 

" The peasants sometimes use their stoves for baths," said the Doctor, 
to the great surprise of his youthful auditors. 

. " How is that possible?" one of them asked. "Do they fill the stove 
with water the same as they would a bath-tub ?" 

" Not exactly," the Doctor answered, smilingly. " You know the 
character of the Eussian bath as we find it in New York and other Amer- 
ican cities ?" 

" Certainly," was the reply. " It is a room filled with steam, and with 



2 Q6 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

a series of benches on which you lie and are heated, the highest bench be- 

ing Se ElSn bath of the best class here," said Doctor Bronson, "is 
arranged in the same way. The more primitive bath ib simply a room 

inches, and . fi r e » * & « ^ M » ^ v er 




A BATH IN THE EAST. 



the stones and converted into steam, and the finishing touch is to mount 
to the topmost hench while an attendant deluges the stones with water 
and raises a cloud that threatens to scald you. The most profuse perspira- 
tion is the result, and the bath is no doubt a great sanitary institution. 



THE EUSSIAN BATH. 207 

The Turkish bath is much like the Russian, hot, dry air taking the place 
of steam. 

" Taken properly, the Russian bath has no bad effects, and is beneficial 
in rheumatism, gout, certain forms of neuralgia, and several other diseases. 
It is a wonderful restorative when you have been shaken up in carriages 
on Russian roads, and an excellent thing after a journey of any kind. 
Every good Russian considers it his duty to bathe once a week, but he 
does not always adhere to the rule. 

" In every village there is a bath-house which is the general property 
of the villagers, and maintained by popular contribution. When a peasant 
has no bath-house he creeps into his stove, bakes himself on the hot ashes, 
and after perspiring freely crawls out and is drenched with water. Near- 
ly every private house has its bath, which is generally in a small building 
in the yard, rather than in the dwelling-house. In all the large cities 
there are numerous bathing establishments/some of them fitted up in gor- 
geous style, while others are of the plainest and cheapest sort. The Rus- 
sians are cpiite gregarious in their bathing habits, and think no more of 
taking a bath in the presence of each other than of dining i n a restau- 
rant." 

"Is it true that the Russians finish a bath by having iced water poured 
over them, or by taking a plunge into it ?" 

" It is the custom to close the pores of the skin by means of cold, but 
not ice-cold water. The attendant begins the work of the bath by throw- 
ing water over you, first warm, then hot, then hotter, and then hottest. 
This drenching is followed by the steaming process and a gentle flogging 
with birchen rods or switches to stimulate perspiration. Then you are 
soaped and scrubbed, the scrubbing being performed usually with 'birchen 
shavings, which are thoroughly and vigorously applied. 

"After this you are again drenched with buckets of water, beginning 
with warm and going on a descending scale to cold, so that there shall 
be no shock to the system. Men have rushed from the bath into a snow- 
bank/but this is not the custom ; the peasants frequently leave the bath to 
take a swim in the river, but only in mild weather. No doubt there have 
been cases of bathing voluntarily through the ice or in iced water, but you 
must search far and wide to find them." 

Frank remarked that he thought one should exercise great care in 
going into the open air in winter after taking a bath. Doctor Bronson 
explained that this was the reason of the drenching with cold water, so 
that the pores of the skin would be closed and the chances of taking cold 
greatly reduced. 



208 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

« It is quite a shock to the system," said the Doctor, « to pass from in 
doors to out, or from out doors to iu, during the Russian winter. The 
hou es are g nerally heated to about 70° Fahrenheit; with the thermom- 
Tr at Jo, or P oUy ten, twenty, or more degrees below^ , dik 
stepping from a furnace to a refrigerator, or vu» versa But the native 
do notfeem to mind it. I have often seen a mujik rise from his couch 



RUSSIAN STREET SCENE IN WINTER. 



on the top of the stove, and after tightening his belt and putting on his 
bits and cap, mount the box of a sleigh and drive for two or three hours 
in a temperature far below zero." 

" I have read somewhere," said Fred, " about the danger of losing ones 
ears and nose by frost, and that it is the custom in St. Petersburg and Mos- 
Tw^ warn any one that be is being frozen. Did yon ever see a case 

° f flange circumstance," replied the Doctor, "that nearly ^every 
tourist who has been in Russia, even for only a week or so cto to have 
seen a crowd running after a man or woman, calling out NmL noss . 



HOW TO KEEP THE NOSE FROM FREEZING. 



209 



and when the victim did not understand, seizing him or her and rubbing 
the nose violently with snow. 

" 0ne writer tells it as occurring to a French actress ; another, to an 
English ambassador ; another, to an American politician ; and in each case 
the story is varied to give it a semblance of truth. I was in Moscow and 
St. Petersburg during January and February; and though constantly 
watching to see somebody's nose pulled, was doomed to disappointment. 
I asked my Eussian friends about it, and none of them was wiser than I. 
One said it might happen once in a great while, but it was safe to con- 
clude that everybody knew enough to take care of his own nose." 

Frank asked how one could tell when his nose was freezing, or how 
observe the freezing of another's. 

"The nose and ears become numb and turn white," was the reply, 
"and that indicates the beginning of the freezing. When this is the 
condition nothing but a vigorous rubbing to restore the circulation will 
prevent the loss of those organs. It is for protection from the frost that 
the Russians keep their faces wrapped in furs ; and if a man has any doubt 
about the condition of his facial attachments he will touch them occa- 
sionally to make sure. When you pinch your nose and do not feel the 
pinch, it is time to rub with snow, promptly and with energy. 

" Severe cold is very inconvenient for the wearer of a mustache, as he 
speedily gathers a great quantity of ice there by the congelation of the 
moisture of his breath. A man's beard becomes" a frozen mass in a little 
while. Beard and furs frequently freeze together, and render a sudden 
turn of the head a matter of great annoyance. Ladies find their veils 
stiffening into something like wire gauze when the thermometer runs 
low. They disdain the bonnet of London or Paris, and sensibly enclose 
their head in hoods lined with fur, and having capes descending well 
into the neck. 

"Horses become white in a short time, no matter what may be their 
real color, from the formation of frost all over their bodies. Their breath * 
suggests steam more than anything else, and the long hairs around their 
noses are turned into icy spikes. In the severest weather pigeons have 
been seen to fall to the ground paralyzed with the cold, but it is quite 
likely that their nights were forced, and the birds were half frozen before 
taking- wins'." 

Frank asked if it often happened that people were frozen to death in 
these Russian winters. 

" Occurrences of this kind probably take place every year," was the 
reply, "but from all I have been able* to learn I believe the number is 

14 



210 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



exaggerated. In many eases it is the fault of the frozen ones themselves ; 
they have been rendered insensible or careless by simulants, and gone to 
sleep in the open air. The tendency to sleep when one is exposed to 
severe cold should be resisted, as it is very likely to be the sleep of death. 





LOST IN A SNOW-STORM. 

" There is a story of two travellers who saw a third in trouble ; one of 
them proposed to go to the relief of the man in distress, but the other 
refused, saying he would not stir out of their sleigh. The first went and 
relieved the sufferer ; his exertions set the blood rushing through his veins 
and saved him from injury by the cold, while the one who refused to ren- 
der aid was frozen to death. 

► " It is a curious fact," said the Doctor, in closing his remarks upon the 
Kussian winter, " that foreigners coming here do not feel the cold at first. 
They walk the streets in the same clothing they would wear in London 
or Paris, and laugh at the Russians wrapping themselves in furs. At the 
same time the Russians laugh at them and predict that if they stay in 
the country for another season they will change their ways. A stranger 
does not feel the cold the first winter as sensibly as do the Russians, but 
in every succeeding season of frost he is fully sensitive to it, and vies with 
the natives in constant use of his furs." 



FROM ST. PETERSBURG TO NOVGOROD. 



211 



CHAPTER XL 

LEAVING ST. PETERSBURG. — NOVGOROD THE GREAT : ITS HISTORY AND TRADI- 
TIONS.— RURIK AND HIS SUCCESSORS. — BARBARITIES OF JOHN THE TERRI- 
BLE. — EARLY HISTORY OF RUSSIA.— AN IMPERIAL BEAR-HUNT. — ORIGIN OF 
THE HOUSE OF ROMANOFF.— " A LIFE FOR THE CZAR."— RAILWAYS IN RUSSIA 
FROM NOVGOROD TO MOSCOW. 

A DAY was appointed for leaving St. Petersburg. Notice was given 
at the office of the hotel, and the passports of the three travellers re- 
ceived the necessary indorsements at the Police Bureau. Trunks were 
packed and bills settled, and at the proper time a carriage conveyed the 
party to the commodious station of the Imperial Eailway from the new 
capital of Kussia to the old. But they did not take their tickets direct 
for Moscow. 

As before stated, the railway between the two great cities of the Czar's 
dominions is very nearly a straight line, and was laid out by the Emperor 
Nicholas with a ruler placed on the map and a pencil drawn along its edge. 
There is consequently no city of importance along the route, with the ex- 
ception of Tver, where the line crosses the Yolga. Novgorod, the oldest 
city of Russia, is about forty miles from the railway as originally laid out. 
Until within a few years it was reached by steamers in summer from Yol- 
khova Station, seventy-five miles from St. Petersburg. In winter travellers 
were carried in sledges from Chudova Station (near Yolkhova), and to 
novices in this kind of travel the ride was interesting. 

Latterly a branch line has been completed to Novgorod, and one may 
leave St. Petersburg at 9 a.m. and reach Novgorod at 6 p.m. The pace of 
the trains is not dangerously fast, and accidents are of rare occurrence. 
Between Moscow and St. Petersburg (four hundred and three miles) the 
running time for express trains is twenty hours, and for way trains twenty- 
three to twenty-five hours. Nine hours from St. Petersburg to Novgorod 
(one hundred and twenty miles) should not startle the most timorous 
tourist. 

Doctor Bronson had told the youths some days before their departure 
that they would visit Novgorod on their way to Moscow. He suggested 



212 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 

that he desired them to be informed about its history, and soon after the 
train started he referred to the subject. , 
"It is rather an odd circumstance," said Frank, "that the oldest city 




in Russia is called Novgorod, or 'New City.' Novo means 'new' and 
Oorod is Russian for 'city.' It received its name when it was really the 
newest town in Russia, and has kept it ever since." 

"It is also called Novgorod Veliki," said Fred, " which means Novgo- 
rod the Great. In the fifteenth century it had a population of lour hun- 
dred thousand, and was really entitled to be called the great. At present 
it has less than twenty thousand inhabitants, and its industries are ot little 
importance compared to what they used to be. _ 

"It has a trade in flax, corn, and hemp," the youth continued, 'and its 
manufactures are principally in tobacco, leather, sail-cloth, vinegar and 
candles. In former times an important fair was held here, and merchants 
came to Novgorod from all parts of Europe and many countries of Asia 
Afterwards the fair was removed to Nijni Novgorod, on the Volga, and 



CELEBRATION OF RUSSIA'S MILLENNIAL. 213 

the ancient city became of little consequence except for its historical in- 
terest." 

" The Slavs founded a town there in the fourth century," said Frank. 
" About the year 862 the Eussian monarchy had its beginning at Nov- 
gorod ; in 1862 there was a millennial celebration there, and a magnificent 
monument was erected to commemorate it." 

" This is a good place for you to tell us about the early history of Eus- 
sia," said the Doctor. 

"I have been studying it," Frank replied, "and find that previous to 
the ninth century the country was occupied by the Slavs, who founded the 




towns of Novgorod and Kief. Each of these places was the capital of an 
independent Slavic principality. Very little is known of the history of 
the Slavs in those times. The Varangians, a northern people, made war 
upon them. The Slavs resisted, but finally invited Eurik, the Prince of 



214 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

the Vara™, to come and rule over them. The Northmen, or Varan, 
the v aian ian > ^ ^ ^ ^ ngw monarchy 

wT ^Ued to £ i -me with his two brother, Sineus and Truvor, 
Id afjovgorod laid the foundation of this empire that now covers one- 
eighth of the land surface of the globe. Thavecon- 
C "The story is admirably told in verse by Bayard Taylo I have cop 
ied the lines from his poetical volume, and will read them to you. 

In a full clear voice the youth then read as follows, havmg previously 
expkinedthat Mr. Taylor was present at the millennial celebratmn already 
mentioned : 

A THOUSAND YEARS. 

Novgorod, Russia, Sept. 20, 1S62. 

<< < A thousand years ! Through storm and fire, 
With varying fate, the work has grown, 
Till Alexander crowns the spire, 
Where Rurik laid the corner-stone. 

-'The chieftain's sword, that could not rust, 
But bright in constant battle grew, 
Raised to the world a throne august- 
A nation grander than he knew. 

- 'Nor he, alone ; but those who have, 

Through faith or deed, an equal part : 
The subtle brain of Yaroslav, 
Vladimir's arm and Nikon's heart ; 

" ' The later hands, that built so well 

The work sublime which these began, 
And up from base to pinnacle 
Wrought out the Empire's mighty plan. 

"'All these, to-day, are crowned anew, 

And rule in splendor where they trod, 
While Russia's children throng to view 
Her holy cradle, Novgorod. 

- 'From Volga's banks ; from Dwina's side ; 
From pine-clad Ural, dark and long ; 
Or where the foaming Terek's tide 

Leaps down from Kasbek, bright with song ; 

" 'From Altai's chain of mountain-cones ; 
Mongolian deserts, far and free ; 
And lands that bind, through changing zones, 
The Eastern and the Western sea ! 



FOUNDING THE EMPIRE. 



215 



" "To every race she gives a home, 

And creeds and laws enjoy her shade, 
Till, far beyond the dreams of Rome, 
Her CsBsar's mandate is obeyed. 

" ' She blends the virtues they impart, 

And holds, within her life combined, 
The patient faith of Asia's heart — 
The force of Europe's restless mind. 

<4 'She bids the nomad's wanderings cease; 
She binds the wild marauder fast; 
Her ploughshares turn to homes of peace 
The battle-fields of ages past. 

" 'And, nobler yet, she dares to know 
r Her future's task, nor knows in vain, 

But strikes at once the generous blow 
That makes her millions men again ! 

" ' So, firmer based, her power expands, 

Nor yet has seen its crowning hour — 
Still teaching to the struggling lands 
That Peace the offspring is of Power. 

"'Build, then, the storied bronze, to tell 

The steps whereby this height she trod— 
The thousand years that chronicle 
The toil of Man, the help of God ! 

" ' And may the thousand years to come — 
The future ages, wise and free — 
Still see her flag and hear her drum 
Across the world, from sea to sea ! — 

" ' Still find, a symbol stern and grand, 
Her ancient eagle's wings unshorn; 
One head to watch the Western land, 
And one to guard the land of morn.' 

"Bear in mind," said Frank, after pausing at the end of the lines, 
"that the millennial celebration took place not long after the edict of 
emancipation was issued by Alexander II. This is what Mr. Taylor refers 
to in the third line of his poem. 

" To go on with the story, let me say that Eurik and his descendants 
ruled the country for more than two centuries. They made war upon 
their neighbors, and were generally victorious, and in their time the boun- 
daries of Eussia were very much enlarged. Eurik and his sons were 



216 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

pa-ans In the tenth century Christianity was introduced, and Olga, the 
widow of Igor, son of Eurik, was baptized at Constantinople. Her son 
remained a pagan. He was slain in battle, and left the monarchy to his 
three sons, who soon began to quarrel. One was killed in battle, and an- 
other was put to death by the third brother, Vladimir, who assumed entire 
control, and was surnamed 'The Great' on account of the benefits he 
conferred upon Russia." 

Fred asked if Vladimir was a Christian. 

"He was not," said Frank, "at least not in the beginning, but he sub- 
sequently became a convert to the principles of the Greek Church, mar- 



VIEW ON THE STEPPE. 



ried the sister of the Emperor of Constantinople, and was baptized on the 
clay of his wedding, in the year 988. He ordered the introduction of 
Christianity into Russia, and established a great many churches and 

SCl1 "°Vladimir left the throne to his twelve sons, who quarrelled about it 
till several of them were murdered or slain iu battle. The successful son 
was Yaroslav, who followed the example of his father by extending the 
boundaries of the country and introducing reforms. He caused many 
Greek books to be translated into Slavic, and ordered the compilation of 
the 'Itmskaya Pravda,' which was the first law code of the country. 
Nikon, whom Mr. Taylor mentions in the same line with Vladimir, was a 
Eussian scholar and theologian of a later time, to whom the religion of 
Eussia is much indebted. 

"After Yaroslav's death there were many internal and external wars, 
during which Eussia lost a great deal of territory, and the history of the 
country for a long period is a history of calamities. The Tartars under 
Genghis Khan invaded Eussia, plundering towns and cities, murdering 



A BIT OF KUSSIAN HISTOKY. 



217 




IVAN THE TERRIBLE. 



the inhabitants, and ravaging the whole country from the frontiers of Asia 
to the banks of the Vistula. Famine and pestilence accompanied war; in 
the year 1230 thirty thousand people died of the plague at Smolensk and 
forty-two thousand at Novgorod. Alexander Nevski defeated the Swedes 
and Livonians on the banks of the Neva. He was a prince of Novgorod, 
and one of the most enlightened of his time. 

"Moscow was founded about 1147, and grew rapidly, although it was 
repeatedly sacked by the Mongol invaders, who slew on one occasion 
twenty-four thousand of its inhabitants. The capital was established there, 
and under various rulers the war with the Mongols was continued to a 
successful end. Ivan III., surnamed < The Great,' drove them out, and 
successfully repelled their attempts to return. His son and successor, 
Ivan IV., was surnamed < The Terrible,' and certainly he deserved the ap- 
pellation. We have mentioned him already in our account of what we 
saw in St. Petersburg. 

" He was an energetic warrior, encouraged commerce, made treaties with 
other nations, introduced the art of printing, and invited many foreigners 
to reside in Eussia and give instruction to the people. On the other hand, 



218 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

lie was one of the most cruel rulers that ever governed a people, and seems 
to have rivalled the brutalities of the Mongols. Here are some of his 
cruelties that are recorded in history : 

" He hated Novgorod on account of the independent spirit of its peo- 
ple, and for this reason he put more than sixty thousand of its inhabitants 
to death, many of them with torture. Novgorod had maintained an inde- 
pendent government, quite distinct from that of the Grand -duchy of 
Moscow Ivan III. and his son, Vassili, made war upon Novgorod and 
the other independent principality of Pskov, and Ivan IV. (< The Terrible ') 
brought them to complete submission. The slaughter of the people of 
Novgorod was the closing act of the conquest. 

"We will change Ivan to its English equivalent, John, and henceforth 
speak of this monster as John the Terrible. He was only four years old 
when he became Czar. During his infancy the government was con- 
ducted by his mother, under the direction of the House of Boyards (noble- 
men). When he was thirteen years of age a political party which was 
opposed to the Bovards suggested that he could rule without any assist- 
ance, and he at once took the control of affairs. Very soon he terrified 
those who had placed him on the throne, and they would have been gladly 
rid of him if they could. 

"An English ambassador came to Moscow bringing the answer to a 
letter in which John had proposed marriage to Queen Elizabeth. The 
Queen rejected his offer, but in such a diplomatic manner as not to offend 
the sanguinary Czar. Her ambassador incurred the monarch's ill-will by 
neglecting to uncover before him, and it was accordingly ordered that the 
envoy's hat should be nailed to his head. Foreigners were better treated 
than were the subjects of John, and the ambassador was not harmed, though 
he was afterwards imprisoned. 

« For his amusement John the Terrible used to order a number of 
people to be sewed up in bear-skins, and then torn to .death by bear- 
hounds. For tearing prisoners to pieces he ordered the tops of several 
trees to be bent down so that they came together; the limbs of the un- 
fortunate victim were fastened to these tops, each limb to a different tree. 
When they were thus tied up, the release of the trees performed the work 
intended by the cruel Czar." 

" Isn't John's name connected with the Church of St. Basil at Mos- 
cow ?" Fred asked. 

"Yes," answered Frank; "it was built in his reign, and is considered 
one of the finest in the city. When it was finished John sent for the 
architect and asked if he could build another like it. 



THE HOUSE OF ROMANOFF. 



219 



" ' Certainly I could,' the architect replied, with delight. 

" Thereupon the monarch ordered the architect's eyes to be put out, 
to make sure that the Church of St. Basil should have no rival. 

" Whether he was a kind husband or not we have no information, but 
he certainly was very much a husband. He had one Mohammedan and 
two Eussian wives ; and at the very time he sought the hand of Eliza- 
beth, Queen of England, he 
proposed to marry the 
daughter of King Sigis- 
mund of Poland. What he 
intended doing if both of- 
fers were accepted we are 
not told, but it is not likely 
that bigamy would have 
had any terrors for a man 
of such ungovernable tem- 
per as he seems to have 
been. 

"At his death his son 
and successor, Feodor, fell 
under the influence of Boris 
GodounofT, his brother-in- 
law, who assumed full pow- 
er after a time, and renewed 
the relations with England 
which had been suspended for a while. Godounoff obtained the throne 
by poisoning or exiling several of his relatives who stood in his way or 
opposed his projects. Feodor is believed to have died of poison ; he was 
the Czar from 1584 to 1598, but for the last ten years of this period he 
had practically no voice in State affairs. With his death the House of 
Eurik became extinct." 

"Does the House of Eomanoff, the present rulers of B.ussia, begin 
where that of Eurik ended ?" the Doctor asked. 

" ^ ot exactly," was the reply, " as there was an interval of nineteen 
years, and a very important period in the history of the Empire. Several 
pretenders to the throne had appeared, among them Demetrius, who is 
known in history as the < Impostor.' He married a Polish lady, and it 
was partly through her intrigues that Moscow fell into the hands of the 
Poles." 

"And how were they driven out?" 




ALEXIS HICHAILOVITCH, FATHER OF PETER THE GREAT. 



220 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

"A butcher or cattle-dealer of Nijni Novgorod, named Minin, gathered 
a small army under the belief that he was ordered by Heaven to free his 
country from the invaders. He persuaded Prince Pojarsky to lead these 
soldiers to Moscow, and together they started. Their force increased as 
they advanced, and finally they expelled the Poles and redeemed the capi- 
tal The names of Minin and Pojarsky are very prominent m Russian 
history. Monuments at Moscow and Nijni Novgorod commemorate the 

action of these patriotic 
men, and tell the story of 
their work in behalf of 
their country. 

" The incident on which 
Glinka's opera, ' A Life for 
the Czar,' is based belongs 
to this period, when the 
Poles overran Kussia. The 
Czar who was saved was 
Michael Feodorovitch, the 
first of the Romanoffs, and 
he was elected to the throne 
by an assembly of nobles. 
The autocrat of all the Rus- 
sias is descended from a 
man who was chosen to of- 
fice by the form of govern- 
ment which is now much 
more in vogue in America 
than in the land of the 
Czar. Michael, the first of 
the Romanoffs, was the son of Feodor Romanoff, Archbishop of Rostov, 
and afterwards Patriarch of Moscow. 

« There was nothing remarkable about the reign of Feodor, nor of that 
of his son Alexis. The latter was distinguished for being the father of 
Peter the Great, and for nothing else that I can find in history. Now we 
step from ancient to modern times. Peter the Great belongs to our day, 
and the Russia that we are visiting is the one that he developed. Under 
him the country became an Empire, where it was before nothing more 
than a kingdom. During his reign—" 

They were interrupted by the stoppage of the tram at a station, 
and the announcement that they must wait there an hour or more to 




MICHAEL FEODOROVITCH, FIRST CZAR OF THE ROMANOFF 
FAMILY. 



AN IMPEEIAL BEAR-HUNT. 



221 



receive some of the Imperial foresters, who were arranging for a bear- 
hunt. 

Eussian history was dropped at once for a more practical and modern 
subject, the Emperor of Russia, and his pursuit of the bear. 

The Doctor explained to the youths that the Czar is supposed to be 
fond of the chase, and whenever a bear is seen anywhere near the line of 
the Moscow and St. Petersburg Railway he is made the object of an Im- 
perial hunt. The animal is driven into a forest and allowed to remain 
there undisturbed. In fact he is kept in the forest by a cordon of peas- 
ants hastily assembled from all the surrounding country. As soon as the 
party can be organized, the hunt takes place in grand style. 




TOO NEAR TO BE PLEASANT. 



The Imperial train is prepared, and an extra train sent out in advance, 
with the necessary beaters, soldiers, and others, and also a plentiful supply 
of provisions. The Imperial train contains the Emperor's private carriage 
and several other fine vehicles. There are carriages for the Emperor's 
horses, unless they have gone in the advance train, and there are guns and 
ammunition sufficient to slaughter half the bears in the Empire. 

When the ground is reached the locality of the bear is pointed out, 
and the Emperor rides fearlessly to the spot. He is accompanied by his 
staff and guests, if he happens to have any Royal or Imperial visitors at 



222 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

the time ; but unless the guests are invited to do the shooting, the honor of 
killing the beast is reserved for the Emperor. Exceptions are made m 
case the bear should endanger the life of his Majesty, which sometimes 
happens Bears have little sense of Imperial dignity, and a Czar as ot no 
more consequence to an untamed bruin than is the most ordinary peasant. 

"A gentleman who was stopping on an estate in the interior of Rus- 
sia " said Doctor Bronson, "happened to be a witness of an Imperial bear- 
hu'nt several years ago, and told me about it. He said not less than five 
hundred Cossacks and peasants were employed in watching the bear, to 
keep him from straying, and the brute had become so accustomed to their 




WOLF ATTACKING ITS HUNTERS. 



presence that he stood quite still when approached by the Emperor, so 
that the latter delivered his shot at a distance of not more than a dozen 
yards. The animal was killed instantly, the ball penetrating his forehead 
and crashing through bis brain. 

"After the hunt the party rode to the house of the owner of the es- 
tate where the bear had been found, and enjoyed a hearty supper, and af- 
ter the supper they returned to the capital. The body of the slain animal 
was dressed for transportation to St. Petersburg, where it was to be served 
up at the Imperial table. 



BEARS DRIVEN TO MARKET. 



223 



" I have heard of bears that did not run at the sight of man, but some- 
times came altogether too near to be agreeable. One day a man who lay 
asleep on the ground was awakened by a bear licking his face. He sat up 
and was much terrified at the situation ; the bear finally walked off, and 
left the man unharmed, 

"When the Emperor treats his Eoyal or Imperial guests to a wolf or 
bear hunt, the masters of ceremonies take good care that there shall be 
game in the forest. On one occasion, when the Crown-prince of Germany 
was a guest at the Winter Palace, the Emperor ordered a wolf-hunt for 
• his amusement. The chase was successful, and two of the animals were 
driven so that they were shot by the guest. 

" During their return to St. Petersburg, so the story goes, the Prince 
commented on the wonderful race of wolves in Eussia. ' One of those I 
killed to-day,' said he, < had the hair rubbed from his neck as if by a chain, 
and the other wore a collar.' " 

" Are there many bears in Eussia ?" one of the youths inquired. 
"The bear is found all over Eussia," the Doctor answered. "The 
most common varieties are the black and brown bears, which are in Asi- 
atic as well as European Eussia ; in northern Asia is the Arctic bear, which 
belongs to the sea rather than to the land. He is the largest of the fami- 
ly, but not the most formidable. The champion bear of the world for 
fighting qualities is the grisly, found only in North America. 

"In some parts of Eussia," the Doctor continued, "bears are so numer- 
ous as to do a great deal of damage. They destroy cattle and sheep, and 
not unfrequently attack individuals. They cause much havoc among fruit- 
trees and in grain-fields, and in localities where inhabitants are few they 
have tilings pretty much their own way. They are hunted with dogs and 
guns ; traps are set for them, and poison is scattered where they can find 
and eat it. But in spite of the efforts of man against them they do not 
diminish in numbers from year to year, and the Emperor is able to have a 
bear-hunt about as often as he wants one. 

" I have heard that in some parts of Siberia bears are caught and 
tamed, and then driven to market as One drives oxen or sheep. In a book 
of travels written by a Frenchman there is a picture of a dozen or more 
bears being driven to market, and the story is told in all soberness. French 
travellers are famous for a tendency to make their narratives interesting, 
even if veracity should suffer. There are exceptions, of course, as in ev- 
erything else, but you may set it down as a good general rule, not to ac- 
cept without question any extraordinary statement you find in a French 
book of travel." 



224 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

In due time the journey was resumed, and the train reached Novgo- 
rod where our travellers alighted. Novgorod stands on hold, sides of the 
Vo khov Eiver, and is one hundred and three miles from St. Petersburg 
by the old post-road. It is not remarkable for its architecture, and is 
chiefly interesting for its historical associations and souvenirs 

« We visited several of the churches and monasteries winch make^ up 
the attractions of Novgorod," said Frank, in his journal. « The pr.ncipa 
church is the Cathedral of St. Sophia, which was called in ancient .mes 
'The Heart and Soul of the Great Novgorod.' The first cathedral was 




OLD PICTURE IN THE CHURCH. 

built here in 989 ; the present one dates from about 1045, when it was 
erected by order of the grandson of St. Vladimir. It has been altered 
and repaired repeatedly, but the alterations have net materially changed 
from its ancient form. It is one of the oldest churches m Russia, and is 
held in great reverence by the people. . 

"The church has suffered by repeated plundering It was_ robbed 
by John the Terrible, and afterwards by the Swedes; the latter m 1611, 
kflled two of the priests and destroyed the charter which h ad been 
granted to the cathedral more than fifty years before. In spite of these 



THE CHURCH OF NOVGOROD. 



225 



depredations, the church contains many relics and images, some of them 
of great antiquity. There are shrines in memory of Yaroslav, Vladimir, 
and other of the ancient rulers of Eussia ; the shrine and tomb of St' 
Anne, daughter of King Olaf of Sweden, and wife of Prince Yaroslav I. ; 
and the shrines or tombs of many other saints, princes, archbishops, patri- 
archs, and other dignitaries whose names have been connected with the 




A BISHOP OF THE GREKK CHURCH. 



history of the church and the city. So many tombs are here that there is 
little room for more. 

" You would hardly expect one of the curious relics of a church to be 
the result of piracy, yet such appears to be the case in this sacred build- 

15 



226 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

inff The doors leading into the Chapel of the Nativity are said to have 
leen stolen from a church in Sweden by pirates. Several men from Nov- 
^od belonged to the Rebooting band, and brought these doors home to 
Eel the fthedral of their native place. The doors are of oak, covered 
h metal plates half an inch thick; the plates bear several devices and 
erl whiclx we conld not understand, but our go Me saxd they were he 
armorial bearings of Swedish noblemen. There is another door, winch 
TalTsaid to have heen stolen from a church, but * exact origin xs 

^rthe sacristy they showed us an ancient copy of the ^four gospels 
on vellum, and a printed copy which is said to have come from fin* 
printing-press ever set up in Russia. There were several flags and stand- 
is S once belonged to the princes of Novgorod, one of them a pres- 
ent from Peter the Great in 1693. There was once an extensxve library 
connected with the cathedral, but it was taken to St. Petersburg ml 859. 
TnTslmwed us a collection of letters from Peter the Great to Catherme 
I and his son Alexis, but of course we could not read them. 

" There is a kremlin, or fortress, in the centre of the city, but xt - not 
of Jat consequence. Near it is a tower which bears the name of laro- 
lav n this tower hung the Veehte bell, which summoned ^eo^ 
assemblage of citizens, when any puhlic circumstance required their atten- 
We tried to picture the gatheriug of the people on such occ = . 
In the day of its greatness Novgorod had four hundred thousand mhabrt- 
L and its assemblages must have been well worth seeing. The vechxe 
be I wi carried off to Moscow by Ivan III., and many thousands of the 
tLZnTZe compelled to move to other places. For a long tune xt 
h "ngt a tower of the Kremlin of Moscow, hut its present whereabouts 

" ™ iTar 'that a further account of our sight-seeing in Novgorod, so fax- 
as the churches and monasteries are concerned, might be wearisome as it 
would he in some degree a repetition of the description of the cathedral , 
Z 7e will drop these'venerable buildings and come down to modern time 
Id things. The most interesthxg of modern things in thxs old city xs the 
Millennial Monument, which has been mentioned before. 

"The monument is one of the finest in the Empire, and some of the 
Enssians say it surpasses anything else of the kind xn t e = tjy Je 
could not measure it, hut judged it to be net less than fifty feet from he 
.round to the top of the cross which surmounts the dome, forming the 
„ part of the monument. There are a great many figures, statues 
3 hiX reliefs, which represent periods of Russian history. The great 



THE MILLENNIAL OF RUSSIA. 



227 



events from the days of Eurik to Alexander II. are shown on the mon- 
ument, and there can be no doubt that the work is highly instructive to 
those who study it carefully. 

" The monument was designed by a member of the Eussian Academy 
of Sciences, and was chosen from a great number of sketches that were 
submitted for competition. The 
casting of the bronze was done 
by an English firm at St. Peters- 
burg, and the expense was borne 
by the Government and a few 
wealthy citizens of Novgorod. 
As is usual in such cases, the 
Government contributed by far 
the greater part of the money." 

After a day in Novgorod our 
friends continued their journey 
to Moscow. They returned to 
the main line of railway by the 
branch, and waited nearly two 
hours at the junction for the 
through train to the ancient cap- 
ital. 

At Yaldai the youths bought 
some specimens of the famous 
Yaldai bells ; but it is safe to say 
that they were not equal to what 
could have been found at St. 
Petersburg or Moscow. Fred 
recalled their purchases of speci- 
mens of local manufactures in 
other parts of the world, and said 
the same rule would apply everywhere. The tourist who buys Toledo 
blades at the railway-station in Toledo, eau-de-cologne at the famous city 
of the Ehine, bog - oak jewellery at Dublin, and pate de foie gras at 
Strasburg, may generally count on being victimized. 

At Tver the railway crosses the Yolga. Frank proposed that as T vei- 
ls the head of navigation on that great river they should leave the train 
and float with the current to Astrachan, two thousand one hundred and 
fifty miles away. Doctor Bronson said a steamer would be preferable to 
floating; besides, they would have quite enough of the Yolga if they 




MILLENNIAL MONUMENT AT NOVGOROD. 

(From Appleton's American Cyclopaedia.) 



228 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

started from Nijni Novgorod and avoided the navigation of the upper 

Par lln5 wS we are on the subject of navigation," the Doctor added, 
" please bear in mind that by means of a system of canals connecting the 
lakes and rivers between this point and St. Petersburg there * unbroken 
taSrTransit between the Yolga and the Neva. Merchant can be car- 




RUSSIAN BOATS. 



ried in boats from St. Petersburg to the Caspian Sea without breaking 
bulk, and there are canals connecting the Volga with the Don and he 
Dnieper rivers in the same way. Russia has an excellent system of inter- 
nal communication by water, and it was doubtless due to this that the rail- 
ways in the Empire are a matter of very recent date. . 

'•The first railway line in the Empire was from St. Petersburg to 
Tsarskoe-Selo, and was built in 1838. The St. Petersburg and Moscow 
Railway was begun in 1848, and down to the end of the reigno f*«h£» 
less than three thousand miles of railway were completed in the whole 
Empire Now there are nearly twenty thousand miles m operation and 
Limes are increasing every yea, Nearly fourteen thousand mile^be- 
long to private companies, and the remainder is the property of the Go- 
ernlent 1 Some of the companies have a Government ° ^ 

interest on their capital, while others are managed just like puvate rail 
ways in other countries." 



ARRIVAL AT MOSCOW. 



229 



At the last station before reaching Moscow passports were surrendered 
to the inspectors, and tickets were collected. The youths put their hand- 
bags and shawl-straps in readiness, and were ready to leave the carnage 
when the train rolled into the huge building which is the terminal station 
of the line. Our friends were in the ancient capital of Eussia, and the 
home of many Czars. 




PORTRAIT OF CATHERINE II. IN THE KREMLIN COLLECTION. 



230 



i TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



CHAPTER XII. 

IT^ZIlZs™™™™, AND HISTORICAL ASSOCtATIONS.-ANECDOTES 
OF RUSSIAN LIFE. — THE CHURCH OF ST. BASIL. 
T7K0M the railway-station the party went to a hotel which had heen 
1 recommended as centrally situated and fairly well kept, tat Frank 
and Fred said they should be cautions about praising it for fear that those 
who came after them might he disappointed. The hotels of Moscow are 
hardly equal to those of St. Petersburg. As the latter * the . capita of 
the Empire, it naturally has a greater demand for hostelnes of the highest 
class than does the more venerable but less fashionable city 

The first thing that impressed the youths was the undulating character 
of the ground on which Moscow is built, in pleasing contrast to the dead 
level of St. Petersburg. The streets are rarely straight for any great dis- 
tance and were it not for the inequalities one would not be able to see 
^yfi ahead of him at any time. But every few minutes a pretty view 
is afforded from the crest of one ridge to another ; the depressions between 
the ridges are filled with huildings scattered somewhat irregularly, and 
Aere is a goodly number of shade-trees in the yards and gardens or fining 

^St Petersburg has an air of great regularity both in the arrangement 
of its streets and the uniformity of the buildings. Moscow forms a marked 
contrast to the younger capital, as there is little attempt a uniformity and 
regularity. You see the hut of a peasant side by side with the palace of 
a nobleman ; a stable rises close against a church and there is a carpen- 
ter's shop, with its half-dozen workmen, abutting close against an immense 
factory where hundreds of hands are employed. Moscow is a city of con- 
LJ, princes and beggars almost jostle each other m the streets; the 
house; of rich and poor are in juxtapos tion, and it is only a iew short 
steps from the palace of the Kremlin, with its treasures of gold and jew 
els, to the abodes of most abject poverty. 



THE BURNING OF MOSCOW. 



231 



Frank and Fred were quick to observe this peculiarity of the ancient 
capital of the Czars, and at the first opportunity they questioned the 
Doctor concerning it. 

" What is the cause of so many contrasts here which we did not see in 
St. Petersburg ?" one of them inquired. 

" That is the question I asked on my first visit/' Doctor Bronson 




STREET SCENE IN MOSCOW. 



replied. "I was told that it was due to the burning of Moscow in 1812, 
at the time of its capture by Napoleon." 

" How much of the city was burned ?" Fred asked. 

" The greater part of it was destroyed," was the reply, " but there 
were many buildings of stone and brick that escaped. Most of the 
churches were saved, as the Kussians were reluctant to commit the sacri- 
lege of burning edifices which had been consecrated to religious worship. 
Such of the churches as were consumed in the conflagration were set on 
fire by neighboring buildings rather than by the hands of the Kussians." 

"Then it was the Kussians that burned Moscow, and not the French," 
said Fred. " I have read somewhere that it is all a falsehood that the 
Kussians consigned their city to the flames." 

" From all I can learn, both by reading and conversation," answered 
the Doctor, " I do not think there is any doubt of the truth of the gen- 



-232 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 

erallv accepted story. Napoleon arrived here on the 15th of September, 
to\pid the winter in Moscow to prepare for a spring cam- 

^ iD ,^t^r^l y encamped oJ the hills which over- 

l0 °" t 2Z^Jt 16th the governor, Count Eostoptchin, ordered 
the chy to he s°et on fire-at least such is the general behef , though the 




official order has never been produced. The fire broke out n many ^plac 
at the same time; the French soldiers tried to suppress it, but found ,t 
h Ulue to do so. Nearly twelve thousand houses were burned, besides 
^Cand Irchcs. The inhabitants fled to the conn try * 
and there was no stock of provisions for the support of the ^J™* 
« Napoleon found that he must evacuate the city and return to Fiance. 



THE FRENCH INVASION OF RUSSIA. 233 

On the 19th of October he looked his last on Moscow from the Sparrow 
Hills on the west, and began his long and disastrous retreat. The winter 
came early, and was unusually severe. Hardly had he left the city before 




BATTLE BETWEEN FRENCH AND RUSSIANS. 

the ground was deep with snow, and from that time onward he was har- 
assed by Cossacks, while his men perished of hunger and cold. Do you 
know how many men were lost in the Russian campaign of 1812?" 

"Yes," said Fred; "I have just been reading the history of the 
campaign. 



234 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

« According to the narrative of the Count de Segur " the youth con- 
tinued "the army with which Napoleon invaded Russia comprised four 
S ed and twenty thousand men. Yery uearly half of these were 

Piemen K1 ™ There was a battle at Smolensk, and another at Bor- 

without opposition, mere was a o At the battle of Borodino 

sit ^rr:r^»»a - — 

After hat the Russians made no serious resistance. Napoleon entered 
with this inscription : 

-3APOLEOK ENTERED MOSCOW 18.2; ALEXANDER ENTERED PARIS 1814."' 

» So much for the advance," the Doctor remarked ; « now tell us about 
^"it w^'one of the most terrible retreats ever known hi history. Out 

^^S£U that one hundred and twenty 
Sousand were killed in the various battles with the Russians one ^hun 
d ed and thirty thousand died of disease cold, and W^™^ 
from two hundred thousand were captured, or voluntarily left the . rmy 
and remained with the Russians. Many of the latter ^ *he 
nex t few years, and others settled in the ^jtZ7nT^ 

^^^^^^^ 

orders from the Government to do so." 

Frank asked if the French army made any attempt to reach 

Pet " r STefore stated, it was Napoleon's intention," the Doctor answered, 



RETREAT OF THE GRAND ARMY. 



235 



"to spend the winter in Moscow, and move upon St. Petersburg in 
the spring. But the burning of Moscow made it impossible for him to 
remain, and thus his plans were spoiled. Eussia refused to make terms 
of peace with him, and some of his messages to the Emperor Alexander 
I. were not even answered. The Eussians doubtless knew that cold and 
hunger would compel a retreat, and they could rely upon the winter and 
the Cossacks to make it disastrous. 

" Eussia had concluded a treaty of peace with Turkey, which would 
release a large army to fight against the French. She had also made 




NAPOLEON RETREATING FROM MOSCOW. 



a treaty with the King of Sweden, by which the troops of the latter 
would join the Eussian army early in the spring, as soon as the weather 
and the roads would permit them to march. It was certain that JSTapoleon 
would be overwhelmed if he remained,, and the only alternative was the 
retreat. 



236 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

"The army that came to Moscow was ahout one hundred thousand 
strong all the rest of the available forces of the Grand Army were left to 
S p Lees on the road to the Niemen and to collect proven. One 
fun re7and sixty thousand men crossed the bridge at Smoknsk m the , 

"arch to Moscow; twenty thousand were killed on the road, and forty 
I— d were left' to guard the magazines, hospitals an « = 
four or five places. The terrible waste of war can be no better filustiated 
Zn in the story of Napoleon's campaign to Moscow. At Kovno, in 
Lithuanians a monument with the inscription : 

" ' NAPOLEON MARCHED THEOUOH HEBE W!TH 700,000 MEN \ HE MAKOHED 

BACK WITH 70,000. 

« And now," he continued, « I think you understand why Moboj PJ- 
sents so many irregularities in its architecture. In the spring of 1813 the 
sents so many s peop i e began to build again, 

and everything was done in a 
hurry. Those who could af- 
ford the time and money nec- 
essary to build good houses 
were the few rather than the 
many. Most of the Eussians 
had been impoverished in the 
war, and could only afford the 
cheapest of dwellings, while 
those who had not lost ev- 
erything were desirous of 
obtaining shelter as soon as 
possible. The custom of 
that day has continued in a 
certain measure to the pres- 
ent, as you can see by look- 
ing around you." 

For a knowledge of what 
our friends saw in Moscow 
we W ill refer as heretofore to the journals kept by the youths, together 

Kremnn o neient fortress of Moscow, on the hank of the river Moskva 
r m whiSi the city is named. We saw many other things on he way 
h7e, but had no interest in them, and will leave then descnpUon to a 




ALEXANDER I. 



THE GATES OF THE KREMLIN. 



237 




VIEW IN THE KREMLIN. 



later page. We were all eyes, ears, and thoughts for the Kremlin, and 
nothing else. 

" Nobody can tell positively what the word < kremlin ' comes from, but 
it certainly means fortress or space enclosed with strong walls. The walls 
of the Kremlin of Moscow are about one mile and a half in circuit, and 
from fifty to sixty feet high ; they are entered by five gates, of which the 
principal is the sj?aski, or 'Redeemer.' This gate was built in 1491, and 
over it there is a picture of the Redeemer of Smolensk. Our guide' told 
us we must remove our hats 
as we passed through this gate- 
way, out of respect for the 
ways of the people. Formerly 
a failure to do so was severely 
punished, but now there is 
no compulsion about it. Not 
even the Emperor is exempt 
from the custom, and you 
may be sure we did not at- 
tract attention by our neglect. 

" It was in front of this gate that executions formerly took place, and 
the victims offered their last prayers to the Redeemer of Smolensk. Hap- 
pily there are now no signs of these executions, and everything has an air 
of peace and happiness. The gate of next importance is the JSTikolshj, or 
Nicholas Gate, which is ornamented and made sacred in the eyes of ortho- 
dox Russians by the picture of St. Nicholas of Mojaisk. The gate was 
partly destroyed by order of Napoleon ; a large quantity of gunpowder 
was placed under it and fired, but the explosion only split the tower in the 
middle and up to the frame of the picture. The glass over the picture 
and the lamp burning in front of it were not harmed. As the occurrence 
was considered in the light of a miracle, an inscription describing it was 
placed there by Alexander I. 

" Another gate, called the Tvoitska, or Trinity, is memorable as the one 
by which the French entered and left the Kremlin in 1812. Several times 
it has been the passage-way of conquering armies. Besides the French in 
the nineteenth century, it admitted the Poles in the seventeenth, the Tartars 
in the sixteenth (1551), and the Lithuanians in the fourteenth centuries. 
Only a small part of the Kremlin was destroyed in the great fire of 1812; 
it was held by Napoleon's troops when the fire broke out, and when the 
invaders retired their attempts to blow up the walls and ignite the build- 
ings did not succeed. 



238 



THE 



BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



" After 



looking at the exterior of the walls and admiring the pictur- 
of the Kremlin, we passed through the gate, and went at 




A PRISONER ORDERED TO EXECUTION. 

to see this tower first of all, as it was tfie best point from which to obtain 

a general view of the city. <wmer- 

g " There is some doubt as to the antiquity of the tower, but * gene 
ally believed to date from the year 1600, and to have been W J ^™ 
Godounoff It is in five stories, of which the upper ib m the form of a 
!yl X while the others are octagonal in shape. The top * two hundred 
and seventy feet from the ground, and is reached by a wmdmg stan-way^ 
" The guide called our attention to the bells in the tower ; there are no 
,ess than I ty-four of them, and some are very large. In the second story 
Zll bell known as the 'Assumption,' which weighs sxxty-fonr tons 
therefore four times as heavy as the great bell of Rouen five tun tl 
of Erfnrt, and eight times as heavy as the Great Tom of Oxf o, d the la ge 
hell in England? The oldest of the other bells bears the date 1550 the 
vechie belf of Novgorod the Great once hung in ^.^^^ 
knows where it is at present. The effect of f».^£^£* 
Easter is said to be very fine, as they are of different tones, and so 



240 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

ranged that they make no discord. In the upper story are two silvei 

bells whose tones are said to be very sweet. # 

"We stopped a while at each of the stories to look at the bells and enjoy 
the view, and thus reached the top without much fatigue. But if we had 
been so weary as to be unable to stand, we should have been amply repaid 
for our fatigue. The view is certainly one of the finest we ever had from 
a height overlooking any city in Europe, with the possible exceptions of 
Paris and Constantinople. 

"Moscow, with its undulating and irregular streets, with the Moskva 
winding through it in the shape of the letter S, with its four hundred 

churches and an immense variety of towers 
and domes and minarets, with the variations 
of palace and hovel already mentioned, and 
with the great buildings of the Kremlin form- 
ing the foreground of the scene, lay before 
and below us. It was Moscow (the Holy), 
the city of the Czars and beloved of every 
patriotic Russian ; the city which has existed 
through Tartar, Polish, and French inva- 
sions; has risen from the ashes again and 
again; has been ravaged by famine, the 
plague, and the sword of the invader, but 
surviving all her calamities, welcomes the 
stranger within her walls, whose circuit is 
From the top of this tower we looked down 




THE GREAT BELL UNDERGROUND. 



more than twenty miles, 
upon seven centuries of historical associations. 

"Listen to a fragment of the history of Moscow: It was plundered by 
the Tartars under Tamerlane, and many of its inhabitants were killed ; 
a^ain it fell into Tartar hands, and again was pillaged, and its inhabitants 
murdered. Twice under the Tartars (1536 and 1572) it was set on fire, 
and on both occasions many thousands of people perished by fire or sword. 
The Poles burned a large part of the city in 1611, and in 1771 the plague 
carried off half the population. Is it any wonder that the Russians love 
their ancient capital, after all that it has suffered and survived % 

"We lingered for an hour or more in the tower, and then descended. 
Our next object of interest was the < Czar KolololJ or Great Bell, which 
stands at the foot of the Ivan Yeliki Tower, and near the place where for 
a long time it lay buried in the earth. It is literally the great bell not 
only of Moscow but of the world. 

"It has a strange history. It is said to have been cast originally in 



THE GREAT BELL OF MOSCOW. 241 

the time of Boris Godounoff, and a traveller in 1611 mentions a bell in 
Russia which required twenty-four men to swing the clapper. During a 
fire it fell to the ground and was broken ; in 1654 it was recast, and 
weighed at that time 288,000 pounds. Twenty years later it was sus- 
pended from a wooden beam at the foot of the tower ; the beam gave way 
during a fire in 1706, and the bell was again broken. The Empress Anne 
ordered it recast in 1733, but it only lasted four years. The falling of 
some rafters in 1737 broke the bell as we now see it, and it lay on the 
ground just ninety-nine years, or un- 
til 1836, when it was raised and 
placed in its present position by the 
Emperor Nicholas. 

" And how large do you think it 

is? 

" It is thought to weigh 444,000 
pounds, or 220 tons ; it is nineteen 
feet three inches in height, and sixty 
feet nine inches in circumference, or 
twenty feet three inches in diameter. 
Just stop and measure these figures 
with your eye in a barn or a large 
room of a house, and then realize 
what this great bell is. 

" Look at the picture of the bell, 
and see the piece that is broken out 
of it. This piece is six feet high, 
and both of us walked through the 
place left by its removal without any 
difficulty. There is an inscription 
on the bell which gives its history, 
and it presents also several sacred figures and the portraits of the Czar 
Alexis and the Empress Anne. 

" From the Great Bell we went to the Nicholas Palace, which occupies 
the site of the one destroyed by the French at the time of their retreat, 
and then to the Bolshoi Dvorets, or Great Palace. 

" The state apartments are numerous and gorgeous ; their number is 
absolutely bewildering, and so is the array of furniture, paintings, statu- 
ary, and other valuables that are gathered there. In the Emperor's cab- 
inet there are pictures representing the battles of Borodino and Smolensk, 
and also of the French entering and leaving Moscow. There are halls 

16 




242 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

dedicated to St. George, St. Alexander Nevski, and St. Andrew, all of them 
W with battle-nags, and the last-the Hall of St. Andrew-containing 
the Emperor's throne. In some of the halls are paintings representing 
scenes in the history of Poland. They were brought from Warsaw, where 
they once hung in the Eoyal castle. 

-They showed us the 'Red Staircase,' which is used by the Emperor 
on state occasions, and was the spot where in former times the Czar al- 
lowed the people to see him. Napoleon and his marshals ascended these 

steps when they took pos- 
session of the Kremlin, and 
it was from the top of the 
staircase that John the 
Terrible saw the comet 
which caused him to trem- 
ble with fear. 

" Then they took us to 
the banqueting-room, where 
the Emperor dines with his 
nobles immediately after 
the ceremony of corona- 
tion, and beyond it to the 
Terem, which was formerly 
occupied by the wife and 
children of the Czar. It is 
now filled with articles of 
historic interest : the seals 
of Eussian sovereigns, the 
certificate of the election 
of Michael, first of the Ro- 
manoffs, to the Russian throne, and several copies of the Evangelists, on 
parchment, and said to be five hundred years old 

"Near the Great Palace is the Treasury, winch reminded us of The 
Hermitage of St. Petersburg, or the more famous Tower of London. It 
s filled with all sorts of curious things, many of them of enormous value 
It has been said that the national debt of Russia could ^dfi^e 
sale of the pearls, diamonds, and other precious things m the Treasury of 
Moscow. Perhaps this is not strictly true, but certainly they would go a 

long way towards doing so. , . . ^ . ^ he _ 

"What we saw in the Treasury would take too long to te 1 , and be 
sides, it would be a catalogue filling many pages of our note-books. Armor 




EMPRESS ANNE. 



FLAGS AND CORONATION CHAIRS. 



243 



and weapons of all times and forms can be seen here. There are faded 
and tattered-flags that tell of the glory of Eussia; here is the flag carried 
by the soldiers of John the Terrible at the capture of Kazan; the flag 
under which Yermak conquered Siberia and added it to the Russian Em- 
pire ; the flag which a little band of Cossacks carried to the shores of the 
Pacific Ocean more than two hundred years ago ; and here are the flags 
which belonged to the Regiment of Streltsi, which rebelled against Peter 
the Great. 

" Here are thrones and coronation chairs in goodly number. The first 
is that of the Empress Elizabeth, and near it are the coronation chairs of 




THE EMPRESS ELIZABETH. 



Paul I. and Alexander II. In the centre of the room where these chairs 
are standing is the haJdachino, under which the Emperor and Empress 
walk at their coronation, and at the farther end is a stand of colors given 
by Alexander I. to his Polish regiment, and afterwards captured at the 
storming of Warsaw, in 1831. The royal throne of Poland is in another 
room, along with the throne of Kazan, which is studded with pearls, dia- 
monds, rubies, and turquoises, as are several other thrones. One throne 



2M THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

contains over eight hundred diamonds and twice as many rubies, and it is 
by no m ans the most costly one in the collection. Near the thrones are 
Se corTation robes worn by several of the emperors and empresses, and 
there is also a masquerade dress which belonged to Catherine the Great 

5 lingered over a glass case containing the decoration of the Order 
of the Garter and its diploma, which Queen Elizabeth sent to John the 

Ter « Another gift from the good Queen to the cruel Czar was the state 
carriage winch stands in one of the rooms of the Treasury, along with 
e -eral other vehicles, all of the olden time. One is on runners, and large 
enoui for a whole family ; it has a table and benches covered with green 
Tthfand was used by the Empress Elizabeth in her journeys between St. 
Ppfprshura- and Moscow. „ . 

" Enoih of curiosities. We grew weary with seeing the relics of the 
rulers of Russia, though all were full of interest, and wdhngly followed 
nr guide to the churches that stand within the walls of the Kremlm. 
The first is the Church of the Assumption, in winch the emperors are 
crowned and where the patriarchs formerly officiated. The church dates 
om 47 , and occupies the site of another which was erected one hun- 
dred and fifty years earlier. It has been altered and restored several 
times, but remains very much in shape and general appearance as ,t was 

four hundred years ago. . 

"In the church is a shrine of silver m memory of St Philip, a patri 
arch of the Church, who had the temerity to rebuke John the Terrible f o 
Ms misdeeds, and was imprisoned and put to death m consequence The 
haXf St. Philip is exposed, and whenever the Emperor comes here he 
never fails to kiss the sacred relic. 

"There are tombs and shrines in great number, and a large part of he 
religions history of Russia belongs to this building. Every Czar of the 
Empire from John the Terrible to Alexander III., has been erowned here, 
andTe most sacred pictures in the whole country are deposited along the 

^"stanley says of the Imperial coronation in the Church of the 

A8S " m £ n coronation, even at the present time, is not a mere ceremony, 
but an historical event and solemn consecration. It is preceded by fas - 
L and seclusion, and takes place in the most sacred church in Russia, 
h°e Emp or, not as in the corresponding forms of European investiture, 
I paS recipient, but himself the principal figure in the whole scene; 
hiSf e 4 aloud the confession of the orthodox faith ; himself alone 



INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION. 



245 




246 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 

on his knees, amid the assembled multitude, offering up the prayer of in- 
tercession for the Empire; himself placing his crown on Ins own head 
MmXntering through the sacred door of the innermost sanctuary, and 
taking from the altar the elements of the bread and the wine 

"There are two other cathedrals in the Kremlin, that of the Archangel 
Michael ud the Cathedral of the Annunciation. The three cathedrals, 
SI the tower of .an Veliki, which has a 

called the Grand Square of 
the Kremlin. We visited the 
cathedrals in the order named, 
and it was quite appropriate 
that when we had finished 
with that of the Assumption, 
where the Czars are crowned,- 
we should go to the Michael 
Cathedral, where, down to the 
time of Peter the Great, they 
were buried. The tombs are 
quite plain in appearance, a 
marked contrast to the elabo- 
rate decorations of the build- 
ing, whose interior is covered 
with frescos which represent 
. scenes in the lives of the Czars, 
together with their portraits. 
« One of the tombs was covered with a black cloth, and we asked the 

guide what it meant. , h < and the black c l th 

"< That is the tomb of John the Terrible, said lie, ana 
is to show that he assumed the cowl of a monk an hour or so befoie he d ed. 
He wanted to atone for his many cruelties, and this is the 

« The guide further told us that in ancient times when any one wished 
to present petition to the Czar he came to this church and pla ed the 
pap'er on one'of the tombs. By a long-established custom winch £d ike 
force of law, no one but a Czar could remove it. In this way the inler 
could be reached when all other means of approaching him were unavaila- 
ble What a pity the custom does not continue to the present time . 

< The onl/emperor buried here is Peter II., son of Alexis 
son of Pete/ the Great. As before stated, the Imperial burial-place has 
been at St. Petersburg since that city was founded. 




PETER II. 



CUPOLAS ON RUSSIAN CHURCHES. 



247 



" While the Czars were crowned in the Cathedral of the Assumption 
and buried in that of St. Michael, they were baptized and married in that 
of the Annunciation, which was the next we visited. Its floor is of jas- 
per and agate, and it has nine cupolas, heavily covered with gilding. The 
cross on the centre cupola is said to be of solid gold— a statement open to 
a good deal of doubt, though by no means entirely improbable when we 
remember what treasures are stored in the Kremlin. The interior of this 
church is covered with frescos, and like the others is adorned with pict- 
ures set in precious stones. 

" Mentioning the cupolas of this church reminds us that the cupolas of 
the Russian churches vary all the way from one up to thirteen, the num- 
ber being nearly always odd. Usually they have Ave cupolas ; the build- 
ing is in the form of a Greek cross, 
and there is a cupola at each cor- 
ner and another in the centre, the 
latter being the largest. The idea 
of the five cupolas came from Con- 
stantinople, whence the Russian 
Church derived its religion. The 
earliest church at Novgorod had 
five cupolas, and was copied from 
the Church of St. Sophia at Con- 
stantinople, which was converted 
into a mosque at the time of the 
Moslem conquest. The largest 
number on any of the churches of 
Moscow is on that of St. Basil, 
which has thirteen in all. 

" There are other small church- 
es and chapels in the Kremlin, but 
we had not sufficient time to ex- 
amine them all. In the sacristy 
of the Holy Synod, which stands 
behind the Cathedral of the As- 
sumption, we saw in glass cases the 
robes of the patriarchs of the 
Church, some of them dating back more than five hundred years. They 
are covered with pearls and all kinds of precious stones ; one, which was 
presented by John the Terrible to the metropolitan Deuys, is said to 
weigh fifty -four pounds in consequence of the great number of dia- 




BISHOP IN HIS ROBES. 



248 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

monds, pearls, emeralds, garnets, and other jewels which are fastened 



to it. 



The attendant left us quite alone in the room with all these valua- 
bles • the guide said this was the custom, but that we were by no means 
out of sight. Through holes in the ceiling watchful eyes were said to be 
peering Ind any attempt to open the cases and remove the valuables 
would result in serious consequences. How much truth there was m his 
statement we do not know. We looked at the ceiling, but could not see 
any peep-holes, but for all that they may have been there. 

"You wonder how it happened that the French did not carry away 
the treasures of the Kremlin when they retreated from Moscow. The 
fact is, most of the treasures were removed to Nijni Novgorod as the 
French advanced, and when they arrived there was not a great deal to 
plunder They carried off many things, which were afterwards recapt- 
ured by the Eussians during the retreat and restored to their places, but 
it was not until the French were completely out of the country that the 
valuables and relics which had been carried to Nijni Novgorod were 

returned. „' , . , 

"The invaders hacked at some of the frames of the holy pictures m 
the Church of the Assumption, and the marks of their knives are still 
visible In the Cathedral of the Annunciation the French stabled then- 
horses, and the other churches were used as barracks by the troops. The 
Kremlin was mined in several places, but the explosions did very little 
damage. Probably the French officers who had charge of the mining 
were in a great hurry and did not attend properly to their work. 

« Our guide was a Russian; and after he had told us about the use of 
the cathedral as a stable, he led the way to the spot where the cannon capt- 
ured from the French in the retreat are exhibited. < There,' said he, < are 
eight hundred and seventy-five cannon which were captured m the retreat 
of the Grand Army ; three hundred and sixty-five of them-one for every 
day in the year-are French, one hundred and eighty-nine are Austrian, 
and the rest are from the various troops allied with the French at that 
time Altogether they weigh about three hundred and fifty tons. A 
Frenchman proposed that they should be melted down and cast into a 
memorial column, but the Eussians think they are better just as they are. 

"We agreed with him that it was very natural a Frenchman should 
make such a proposal and the Eussians reject it. An amusing thing is 
that some of the guns bear the names < Invincible,' 'Eagle,' 'Conqueror,' 
< Triumph,' and the like, quite in mockery of their captive condition. ^ 
" Doctor Bronson said he was reminded of an incident that is said to 



MONSTER CANNON, 



249 



have happened in an American navy-yard fifteen or twenty years after the 
war of 1812, between the United States and Great Britain. 

"An Englishman was visiting the navy -yard, and while wandering 
among the cannon which lay peacefully in one of the parks, he found one 
which bore the British crown, with the stamp ' G. E.' beneath it. The 
stamp and crown told very plainly the history of the gun, but the Briton 
was doubtful. Turning to a sailor who was standing near, he remarked, 

" ' It's easy enough to put that stamp on a gun of Yankee make.' 

" 6 How long do you think it would take V 

"< About half an hour.' 




GREAT GUN AT MOSCOW. 



" ' Well,' replied the sailor, < we took forty-four of those guns, with the 
stamps already on, in just seventeen minutes.'* 

" The stranger had no more conundrums to propose. 

"There are seven monster cannon in front of one of the arsenals in 
the Kremlin that have probably never enjoyed the honor of being fired ; 
certainly some of them would be likely to burst if filled with an ordinary 
charge of powder. The smallest weighs four tons and the largest forty 



* Referring to the battle between the Constitution and Guerriere, August 19, 1812, 



250 



BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 




THE CATHEDRAL AT MOSCOW. 



tons. Some of them are unusually long in proportion to 
and others are exactly the reverse. The largest was east m 1586, if *e 
m ay believe an inseription upon it, at the orders of the Czar Feodo but 
whether it was intended for ornament or use is difficult to say It is re 
markable as a pieee of casting ; and the carriage is nearly as ^tiug as 
the gun. We enclose a photograph; and by comparing the cannon with 



THE CHUKCH OF ST. BASIL. 



251 



the figures of the soldiers seated below the muzzle, you can get an idea 
of the colossal size of this piece. 

" As we came out through the 'Holy Gate' of the Kremlin we were in 
front of the Church of St. Basil, the one whose architect is said to have 
been blinded by order of John the Terrible, to make sure that the struct- 
ure should not be duplicated. It stands on the site of an ancient church 
where St. Basil was buried, in 1552. It was begun in 1555, and is said to 
have occupied twenty years in building. 

" There is not anywhere in the world a more fantastic church than 
this ; none of its towers and domes resemble each other, and they present 
all the colors of the rainbow. One of the cupolas is striped like a melon, 
while another suggests a pineapple ; another is like an onion in shape and 
general appearance; another suggests a turban covered with folds; and 
still another might readily have been copied from an artichoke. The 
stripes are as strange as the forms, and the irreverent could be forgiven 
for calling this the Harlequin Church in consequence of its peculiar archi- 
tecture. 

" Napoleon ordered his engineers to destroy ' The Mosque,' as he called 
the Church of St. Basil, but for some unexplained reason the order was 
not carried out. In the chapel below the church is the shrine of the saint, 
but it presents nothing remarkable ; and altogether the building is more 
interesting from an external than from an internal view." 




"52 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

THE GREAT THEATRE OF MOSCOW. — OPERATIC PERFORMANCES. - THE KITAI 
GOROD AND GOSTINNA DVOR. — ROMANOFF HOUSE AND THE ROMANOFF FAM- 
f LY -SKETCH OF THE RULERS OF RUSSIA.— ANECDOTES OF PETER THE GREAT . 
AND OTHERS -CHURCH OF THE SAVIOUR. — MOSQUES AND PAGODAS. THE MU- 
SEUM-RIDING - SCHOOL. — SUHAREFF TOWER. TRAKTIRS.— OLD BELIEVERS. 
THE SPARROW HILLS AND THE SIMONOFF MONASTERY. 

riMIE best part of a day was consumed in the Kremlin and in the Church 
-L of St. Basil. Further investigation of old Moscow was postponed 
to the morrow. 

In the evening our friends went to the Opera-house to listen to some 
national music, but more particularly to see the house, which is one of the 
curiosities of the city. The "Bolslm Teatre^' or " Great Theatre, is one 
of the finest opera-houses in the world. It was built in 1855-56, to re- 
place the smaller opera-house which had been destroyed by fire about two 
years before. A few months after it was opened there was a performance 
in the theatre, entitled "1756 and 1856," to celebrate the hundredth anni- 
versary of the establishment of government theatres in Russia. 

From the material in the possession of the youths, and by a careful 
use of eyes and note-books, Fred wrote the following account of the Mos- 
cow Opera-house, and added to the information about theatrical matters 
which appears in a previous chapter. , 

» The first recorded representation of a theatrical character m Kussia 
is assigned to the reign of Alexis Michailovitch, father of Peter the Great. 
It was given in the house of the father-in-law of Alexis, but very little is 
known of its character. Russian writers say their first regular dramas 
were in the time of Feodor Alexeivitch (half-brother and predecessor ot 
Peter the Great), and were written by the Czar's tutor. They were pro- 
duced in one of the suburban palaces, and had a religious character, as we 
infer from the titles 'Prodigal Son,' ' King Nebuchadnezzar,' 'Three Men 
in the Fiery Furnace,' and 'The Golden Calf.' The Czar's tutor was a 
monk, and the plays were performed by the students attached to the mon- 
astery. 



EARLY THEATRES IN RUSSIA. 253 

" Peter the Great determined to develop the drama, and engaged a 
Hungarian- actor, who happened to be at Moscow, to look after the mat- 
ter. This actor went to Germany and engaged a troupe, and among them 
was a man who divided his time between theatrical affairs and ship-build- 
ing. When he was not ship-building he was writing plays and managing 
Peter's theatre at Moscow, and he seems to have engaged in the two occu- 




DRESS OF PEASANTS— SCKNE FROM A RUSSIAN OPERA. 



pations with equal facility. Peter attended the performances accompanied 
by his officers. In order to encourage the drama there was no admission 
fee, the company being supported by the Government. 

" At first the performances took place in a large hall of the Suhareff 
Tower. After a time a wooden theatre was built near the Kremlin, and 
performances were given regularly. The City of Yarosl av established a 
theatre of its own under the direction of Feodor Yolkhoff, an actor who 
afterwards became famous in Kussia. In 1752 he was summoned to St. 
Petersburg by the Empress Elizabeth, to direct performances at the court 
theatre, and in 1756 the Empress issued an Imperial order establishing a 



254 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 

government theatre in the capital. The centennial of this event was the 

celebration referred to. 

« The Moscow Opera-house stands in a square by itself not far from the 
Kremlin. Carriages can be driven all around it, and there are three en- 





A DRESSING-ROOM OP THE OPERA-HOUSE. 



trances for spectators besides the one reserved to the actors. The theatre 
crowded, as only as many tickets are sold as there are seats, and 



is never 



y is taken at the doors. There are five rows of boxes besides the 
parquette, or ground-floor, and the gallery, which occupies the whole ot 



BETWEEN THE ACTS. 



255 



the upper tier. We had our places in the parquette, and found them very 
comfortable. Each seat is a separate arm-chair, with plenty of space 
around it, so that one may walk about between the acts without disturbing 
his neighbors. 




WORKING THE SHIP IN " l'aFRICAINE 



" The waits between the acts were very long, according to our Amer- 
ican ideas, but there was a reason for this. We found an attendant who 
spoke French, and through his assistance and his expectation of a fee we 
visited an unoccupied box on one of the principal tiers. The box had 
plenty of seating-room for half a dozen persons ; the attendant said ten or 



256 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

twelve were frequently packed into it, but it was only unfashionable peo- 
ple who ever thought of thus crowding a box. Each box has a little cab>- 
net or parlor back of it, where one may receive friends, and a great deal of 
visiting goes on between the acts. The arrangement is an Italian one, 
and the same feature exists in opera-houses in other parts of Europe. 

« To give you an idea of the size of the house, let me quote a few fig- 
ures comparing it with the principal theatres of Milan, Naples, and Lon- 
don. The measurements are in English feet : 

Diameter of ceiling, La Scala, Milan 

San Carlo, Naples 73 



Covent 



Garden, London 65 

Moscow Opera-house • • • • • 98 

Opening of proscenium, La Scala, Milan 51 

San Carlo, Naples 58 

Covent Garden, London 50 

Moscow Opera-house 

"The stage of the Moscow Opera-house is 126 feet wide and IIS: feet 
deep At Covent Garden Theatre the respective figures are 88 and 90 feet. 

"We had a great deal of curiosity to see the famous drop-scene, which 
represents the triumphal entry of Minin and Pojarsky into the Kremlin 
after the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow in 1612. It is a magnificent 
picture, painted by Duzi, a Venetian artist, and represents the two libera- 
tors on horseback near the Holy Gate of the Kremlin surrounded by citi- 
zens of all classes and conditions. Prince Pojarsky looks like an Oriental, 
as he is dressed in the costume which was worn by the bayards or noble- 
men down to the time of Peter the Great. The peasant class are m their 
holiday dress ; the women wear sarafans and kakoshmks which are quite 
like those worn by many of them at the present time while the men are 
mostly in girdled caftans, just as we see thousands of them daily French 
fashions have taken a hold among the nobility and wealthy people of Rus- 
sia generally, but have no effect on the peasantry The common people 
will probably adhere to their present costume until ordered by Imperial 

decree to adopt a new one. 

"We spent nearly the whole time of the wait between the first and 
second acts in contemplating this picture, and found plenty ^ occupy us 
We have already mentioned the Minin-Pojarsky Monument, which stands 
near the gate of the Kremlin, and reminds the people of an important event 
in their national history. Between the monument and the painting, the 



IN THE "KITAI GOROD." 



251 



Kussians are not likely to forget the patriotism of the cattle-dealer and 
the Prince." 

From the theatre our friends went straight to the hotel and to bed. 
tired enough with their day's exertions, but amply repaid for all their 



fatigue. 

Next morning they were off in good season, or rather Frank and 
Fred were, as the Doctor decided to remain at the hotel, while the 
youths devoted the forenoon to 
sights that he did not especially 
care for. Having been in Moscow 
before, he was willing to leave some 
of the stock sights out of his pro- 
gramme. 

Their first visit was to the ba- 
zaar, which bears the name of "Ki- 
ted Gorod" or "Chinese Town.-' 
The bazaar is often said to be so 
called because of the great number 
of Tartars doing business there — 
the descendants of the Mongols, 
who so long held Moscow in their 
hands. 

According to some writers this 
belief is erroneous. They assert 
that, originally, all of Moscow was 
inside the Kremlin ; but as the 
necessity came for extending the 
city, an order was given by Helena 
(mother of John the Terrible, and 
Kegent during his minority) for enclosing a large space outside the Krem- 
lin, which was to be named after her birthplace, Kitaigrod, in Podolia. 
Its walls were begun in 1535 by an Italian architect. 

"We went," said Frank, "through the Gostinna Dvor of Moscow, 
which fills an enormous building in the Kitai Gorod, and is in some re- 
spects more interesting than that of St. Petersburg, though practically of 
the same character. The display of Kussian goods is about like that in 
the capital city, though there is possibly a greater quantity of silver work, 
Circassian goods, and similar curiosities peculiar to the country. Much 
of the money-changing is in the hands of Tartars ; where the changers 
are not of the Tartar race, they are generally Jews. Kussian Tartars and 

IT 




MININ-POJARSKY MONUMENT. 



258 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



Jews use the abacus in counting, and they work it with wonderful rapid- 
ity We saw it in St. Petersburg, but it was not so much employed there 
-is in Moscow. The abacus has undergone very little change in two or 
three thousand years. It was introduced by the Tartar conquerors of 
Kussia, and promises to remain permanently in the Empire. 

« What a quantity of silks, embroideries, silverware, and the like are 
piled in the bazaar ! and what an array of clothing, household goods, furni- 
ture, and other practical and unpractical things of every name and kind . 
It was the Bazaar of St. Petersburg over again, with the absence of certain 
features, that suggested Western Europe and the addition of others be- 
longing to the Orient. The second-hand market was encumbered with 



■ «np iip in - 1 





PETERS ESCAPE FROM ASSASSINATION. 



old clothes, pots, pans, boots, furniture, and odds and ends of everything, 
and we were so pestered by the peddlers that we went through the place 

pretty quickly. , ,, 

« The guide took us to Romanoff House, which was budt near the end 
of the sixteenth century, and was the birthplace of Michael, the first Czar 
of the present reigning family. Of the original house only the walls re- 
main; the interior was destroyed by the French, who plundered the 
building and then set it on fire, and only the great thickness and sohdity 
of the walls preserved them. 

"Romanoff House, as we saw it to-day, is an excellent example of the 



KOMANOFF HOUSE. 259 

Enssian house of the sixteenth and seventeenth, centuries, and in this re- 
spect it is very interesting. The last restoration was made in 1858-59 and 

order " nient ^ SPeDt ^ am ° mlt ° f m ° ney in pUttin S !t in 
"It is four stories high, and built around a court-yard from which the 
rooms on the ground-floor are entered. In the basement are cellars for 
storing provisions, and on the floor above it are the kitchens, temporary 
store-rooms and the like. In the next story are the rooms where the 
prince lived; they include a reception-room, rooms for servants, several 
smaller rooms, and also some secret recesses in the walls where silver plate 
and other valuables were kept. The rooms are adorned with utensils of 
former periods, together with many articles of silver and other metals that 
belonged to the Bomanoff family long ago. 

♦1 T TI i e -?f r St01 ' 7 k ° alled the te ™ n ' a Word which is equivalent to 
the Turkish harem. The terem was reserved to the women and children 
but not so rigidly as is the harem among the Moslems. Beds, bedsteads' 
playthings, and articles of clothing are among the curiosities in the terem 
of Eoinanoff House. Among them are the slippers of the Czar and the 
night-gown of the Czarina, which are kept in a box at the foot of the bed 
according to the old custom. 

"Bomanofl House is in the Kitai Gorod, and from it we went to the 
Place where Peter the Great witnessed the execution of many of his re- 
bellious strdtzi, or guards. Perhaps you would like to hear the story « 

I believe we have already mentioned something about the strained 
relations between Peter and bis sister Sophia, and how she plotted Ms as- 
sassination, from which he escaped by riding away in the night. Peter 
shut Sophia in a convent before going on his tour to Holland and Eng- 
land to learn the art of ship-building and obtain other information to afd 
him m the development of the Eussian Empire. He distributed his 
troops m the best way he could think of, and confided the administration 
ot attains to his most trusted officers. 

"But even then he was constantly fearful of trouble. He knew the 
ambition of his sister, and the opposition that many of the old nobility 
had to his reforms, and he was well aware that many officers of the army 
did not favor his plans. Consequently, when news of the rebellion reached 
him at Vienna he was not entirely unprepared, and hastened homeward as 
last as horses could carry Mm. 

"The conspiracy included many nobles, officers, and others, together 
with the immediate advisers of his sister. The clergy were on the side of 
the conspiracy; they opposed the reforms, and preferred keeping thino-s 



260 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

as thev had been, rather than adopt the ways of Western Europe. It is 
aid I print that the Russian Government would change the calendar 
Vl stvle to new style, and make it conform to the rest of the cml- 
7 but for tie opposition of the Church. The priests assert that 

T^Z 1^ a" Z of confusion with the saints' days, and there- 
fore thev refuse their approval of the measure. 

' The streltzi had been distributed at points far removed from Moscow. 
Under pretence of coming to get their pay, they marched to the caty, 
Sere they were met by General Gordon, an English officer who com- 
Tn nded S Government' troops at the time. Gordon defeated the s reU- 
721 then by torturing some of the prisoners learned the h.story of .the 
conspiracy. It was to place Sophia on the throne m place of Pete,, and a 




PETER THE GREAT AS EXECUTIONER. 

.reat many persons were implicated in the scheme News of the oc- 
«e was" sent to Peter at Vienna, and hastened Ins return as de- 

""On arriving in Moscow, he made the most searching in * 
torturing some of those who had fallen into Ins hands he obtamed he 
names <5 many others. There is no doubt that innocent 
plicated as the victims of torture are apt to tell anything, whether true or 
S e In order to escape from their pain. Those implicated = — £ 
ateV arrested and put to death, many of them With torture. Nobles, ladies 



BEHEADING THE INSURGENTS. 



261 



of rank, officers and soldiers, comprised the list. On the spot where we 
stood to-day hundreds of the streltzi were beheaded, and altogether sev- 
eral thousands of people were killed. Peter himself took part in the ex- 
ecutions, if report is true. Once, at a banquet, he ordered twenty of the 
prisoners to be brought in, and a block arranged for the fearful ceremony. 
Then he called for a glass of wine. After drinking it, he beheaded the 
victim, who had been placed on the block, and then he called for an- 
other victim and another glass of wine. It is said that he was just one 
hour in performing the twenty executions ; and after he had finished he 
went in person to the great square in front of the Kremlin, where other 
executions were going on. 

"While he was witnessing one of these executions, one of the prison- 
ers who was about to lose his head came forward as coolly as though he 




CATHERINE I. 



were entering a dining-hall. 4 Make way for us,' he said, as he kicked the 
fallen heads from his path—' make way here, make way.' 

" J ust as the man lay down upon the block and the executioner raised 
his axe, Peter ordered the prisoner to be liberated. He pardoned him on 
the spot, remarking that there was good stuff in a man who could walk so 



262 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

gallantly to his own execution. Peter's prediction was correct; and who 
do yon suppose the man was % 

"His name was Orloff. He was a faithful adherent of Peter for the 
rest of his life, and rose to the command of his armies. He was the 
founder of the Orloff family, which has ever since been prominent in 
Kussian matters, and continues so down to the present day. Various 
members of the family have been distinguished in land and naval warfare, 
and in diplomacy and home affairs. One of them was the intimate friend 
and adviser of Catherine II. He was a man of gigantic stature and great 
personal courage, and is said to have strangled with his own hands the 
unfortunate emperor Peter III., in order to place the disconsolate widow 
Catherine on the throne. 

" Catherine II. should not be confounded with Catherine I. It was 
Catherine II., surnamed < The Great,' to whom I have just referred, as 
the conspirator who gained the throne by the murder of. her husband. 
Catherine I. was the widow of Peter the Great, and mother of the Em- 
press Elizabeth. She had great influence over the founder of the Empire, 
and though not always controlling his violent temper, she did much tow- 
ards suppressing it on many occasions. 

"While we are in sight of Romanoff House let us run over the list ot 
those who have held the throne since the first of this family ascended it. 
Here they are : 

" 1. Michael Feodorovitch (first of the Romanoffs). 

" 2. Alexis Mikailovitch (son of Michael). 

' ' 3. Feodor Alexeivitch (son of Alexis). 

' < 4. Ivan Alexeivitch (brother of No. 3). 

" 5. Peter Alexeivitch (Peter I., or, "The Great "). 

" 6. Catherine I. (widow of Peter I.). 

" 7. Peter II. (grandson of Peter I.). 

" 8. Anna (niece of Peter I.). 

" 9. Ivan III. (imprisoned in his infancy, and afterwards assassinated). 

"10. Elizabeth (daughter of Peter I.). 

" 11. Peter III. (great-grandson of Peter I.). 

"12. Catherine II. 

" 13. Paul I. (son of Catherine II.). 

"14. Alexander I. (son of Paul I.). 

"15. Nicholas I. (brother of Alexander I.). 

" 16. Alexander II. (son of Nicholas I.). 

"17. Alexander III. (son of Alexander II.). 

"It is a circumstance worthy of note that in the thirty-seven years 
between the death of Peter the Great and the accession of Catherine the 
Great, Russia had three emperors and three empresses ; the emperors 




1 



DESPOTISM TEMPERED BY ASSASSINATION. 263 

reigned, but cannot be said to. have ruled, only three and a half years 
altogether, while the empresses held the throne for the rest of the time 
Catherine was Empress from 1762 till 1796; so that during the efch- 

yelr! Centm7 ^ RUSSian ****** ^ bj W ° men f ° r Rear ^ Seve ^ 
_ " The heir to the throne at present is too young to have made his mark 
m any way; and besides, he has had no opportunity, even if he were of 
age. His name is Nicholas; he is the eldest son of Alexander III and 
when he ascends the throne 
he will be known as Nich- 
olas II. He was born in 
1868, and is said to be a 
young man of great prom- 
ise. 

"Four at least of the 
seventeen rulers named 
above were murdered, and 
there were suspicions of 
poisoning in the cases of 
two others. Consequently 
the description of the Gov- 
ernment of Eussia as 6 des- 
potism tempered by assas- 
sination' is not so very far 
from the truth. 

"It is sometimes said 
that the Eomanoff family 
is more German than Eussian, in consequence of the marriages of the 
emperors with German princesses. Peter the Great was pure Eussian ; 
his son Alexis, father of Peter IL, married a German princess, and their 
daughter Anne married a German duke. Anne and the German duke 
were the parents of Peter III, the husband of Catherine II. ; Peter III 
and Catherine were the parents of Paul, who married a German prin- 
cess, and the example has been followed by all the emperors. The Eus- 
sian poet Pushkin used to represent in an amusing way the Germanizing 
of the Imperial family, which was as follows : 

"He placed in a goblet a spoonful of wine for the Czarevitch Alexis 
and a spoonful of water for his German wife. Then he added a spoonful 
of water for Anne's German husband, a third for Catherine IL, and a 
fourth, fifth, and sixth for the German wives of Paul, Nicholas, and Alex- 




CATHKRINE II. 



264 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 

■mder II Were the poet alive to-day, he would add a seventh for the 
Danish wife of Alexander III., and an eighth for the wife of the yonng 
Nicholas, whoever she may he. 

"However little Russian blood may be running at present m the 
veins of the Romanoff family, there is no question about the thoroughly 

Kussian character of the 
persons most concerned. 
Born and bred in Russia, 
it would be strange if the 
men were otherwise than 
national in their feelings ; 
and as for the women who 
have been married into the 
Imperial family, they seem 
to have left everything 
behind them when they 
came to make their homes 
in Muscovy. There was 
never a more thorough 
Kussian than Catherine II. 
When she came to the 
Imperial court at the age 
of fifteen she immediately 
went to work to learn the 
language, and in after-life 
she used to say that if she knew of a drop of blood in her veins that had 
not become Kussian she would have it drawn out. 

"Before becoming the wives of the men of the Imperial family, all 
foreign princesses must be baptized and taken into the Kussian Church. 
The ceremony is a very elaborate one, and is made a state affair. The 
members of the Imperial family are present, together with many high 
officials, who appear as witnesses, and there can be no exceptions to the 
rule that requires the Emperors bride to be of his religion. Family, 
home, religion, everything must be given up by the woman who is to 
become an Empress of Russia. 

" Well we will leave Romanoff House and the Kitai Gorod, and go to 
see something else. Our guide suggests the Church of the Saviour, which 
has only recently been completed. It was built to commemorate the retreat 
of the French from Moscow. Our guide, whose arithmetic is a good deal 
at fault, says they have been working at it for more than a hundred years. 




GRAND-DUKE NICHOLAS ALEXANDttOVITCH. 



CHUKCHES, MUSEUM, AND RIDING-SCHOOL. 



265 



" Though not so quaint as the churches we have seen, it is certainly 
the finest in the city. It is in the form of a Greek cross, and the central 
cupola, eighty-four feet in diameter, rises three hundred and forty-three 
feet above the ground. In front of the church there are statues of the 
Eussian generals of the early part of the century • the outside is adorned 
with bronze reliefs, which are strangely divided between Scriptural sub- 
jects and the war of 1812. The interior of the building is finished with 
highly polished porphyry, lapis-lazuli, and other costly stones, and there is 
a profusion of paintings ornamenting the walls. We spent half an hour 
or more at the church, and were loath to leave it. 

" In addition to its many churches of the Greek faith, Moscow is like 
St. Petersburg in containing churches representing all the religions of a 
Christian city, together with synagogues for the Jews and mosques for 
the Tartars. Some Chinese who once lived in Moscow had a pagoda, 
where they worshipped idols as in their own country, but our guide says 
there are no Chinese here at present. Of course we had not sufficient 
time for visiting all the churches of Moscow, and told the guide to take 
us only to those which were really remarkable. We saw perhaps a dozen 
in addition to those I have named. They were interesting to us who saw 
them, but I omit a description lest it might prove tedious. 

" We went to the Museum, which has a library of one hundred and 
fifty thousand volumes, a collection of minerals, and a great number of 
paintings, engravings, and similar things. It did not impress us as much 
as did the Museum of St. Petersburg, but perhaps this is due to the fact 
that we were a good deal wearied after our long hours of sight-seeing, and 
were more desirous of a rest than anything else. 

" One of the curiosities of the place was a skinned and stuffed man 
in a glass case. It reminded us of the cases in which the dress-makers 
exhibit the latest styles of feminine apparel ; and the figure, though dead, 
was more 'life-like' than the wax models to which we are accustomed. 
It is the real skin of a man who once lived and moved and was of goodly 
stature. 

" From the Museum we went to the Manege, or riding-school, which 
is claimed to be the largest building in the world without any supporting 
pillars. Look at the figures of its measurement : length, 560 feet ; width, 
158 feet ; height, 42 feet. 

"Perhaps some of the great railway -stations of Europe or America 
can surpass these measurements, but we certainly don't know of one that 
can. The space is large enough for two regiments of cavalry to perform 
their evolutions ; and in the winter season, when the weather is too severe 



266 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



for out-door exercise, this riding-school is in constant nse. It is heated 
by stoves ranged around the sides of the room, and is ornamented with 
numerous trophies of war, and representations of men in armor. The 

roof is low and rather flat, and 
even when the sun is shining 
the light is poor. 

"The Suhareff Tower, to 
which we next went, was chief- 
ly interesting as a reminder of 
Peter the Great. At present 
it is utilized as a reservoir for 
supplying the city with water, 
and it performs its duty very 
well. It was formerly the 
north-western gate of the city, 
and a regiment of streltzi was 
kept here under command of 
Colonel Suhareff. When the 
streltzi revolted, in 1682, Su- 
hareffs regiment remained 
faithful, and escorted Peter and 
his mother and brother to the 
Troitsa Monastery. 

"In grateful remembrance 
for their devotion, Peter caused 
this tower to be built and 
named after the colonel who 
commanded at the time. The 
architect tried to make some- 
thing resembling a ship, but 
did not succeed very well. Peter used to have secret councils of state 
in this tower, and it was here that comedies were performed in 1771 by 
the first troupe of foreign actors that ever came to Russia. It is also 
ga id " 

Here the journal stopped rather abruptly. Frank and Fred were 
summoned to go to the "Troitska TraMir" for dinner, and as they were 
both hungry and curious the journal was laid aside. 

We have had the description of a Russian dinner in the account of 
what they saw in St. Petersburg. The dinner in Moscow was much like 
the one already described, but the surroundings were different. The 




SKINNED AND STUFFED MAN. 



THE "MOSKOVSKI TKAKTIR." 267 

waiters were in snowy frocks and trousers, and the establishment was so 
large that it was said to employ one hundred and fifty waiters in the 
dining and tea rooms alone. 

Many of the patrons of the place were taking nothing but tea, and the 
samovar was everywhere. Frank and Fred thought they had never seen 
waiters more attentive than at this traktir. They seemed to understand 
beforehand what was wanted, and a single glance was sure to bring one 
of them to the table. They did a great deal more than the waiters do 
in Western Europe. They offered to cut up the food so that it could be 
eaten with a fork, and they poured out the tea, instead of leaving the 
patron to pour for himself. Frank observed that nearly every one who 




RUSSIAN BEGGARS. 



entered the place said his prayers in front of the holy picture. There is 
a picture in every room of the establishment, so that the devout wor- 
shipper is never at a loss. 

Another day they went to the "Moskovski Traktir" a large restaurant 
similar to the Troitska, and containing an enormous organ which is said 
to have cost more than fifty thousand dollars. The Eussians are very fond 
of music of the mechanical sort, and their country is one of the best mar- 
kets of the Swiss makers of organs and music-boxes. In the best houses 
all through Eussia expensive instruments of this kind can be found, and 



268 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 

sometimes the barrel-organs are large enough to fill a respectably-sized 
room with machinery and fittings, and an entire house with sound Prob- 
ably the most costly mechanical musical instruments are made .for Rus- 
sians, and some of them give the effect of a whole orchestra White the 
instrument in the traktir was in operation, both the youths said the} 
conld have easily believed the music to have been produced by a dozen 

skilled performers. , 

As they left the Moskovski Traktir the guide suggested that they 
would go to the restaurant of the Old Believers. Fred thus describes the 

V1S1 "I must begin by saying that the Old Believers are a Russian sect who 
prefer the versfon of the Bible as it was up to the time of Nikon, rather 
than the one he introduced. The Government persecuted them greatly in 
past times, and even at present they are subjected to many restrictions 
They arc scattered through the Empire, and are said to number seveial 
millions, but the exact statistics concerning them are unattainable. 

"In addition to their adhesion to the old form of the Scriptures they 
abhor smoking, refuse to shave their beards, attach particular sanctity to 
old eccWical pictures, and are inveterate haters of every hmg 
thoroughly Russian. They despise the manners and customs of We e n 
Europe, which they consider the synonyme of vices, and associate as little 
as poiibie with those who do not share their belief. In the country they 
rm communities and villages by themselves, and in the cities hey live 
in the same quarter as much as possible. They are an honest, industrious 
people, and thoroughly loyal subjects of the Emperor. 
P "In the traktir of the Old Believers we found the waiters wearing 
dark caftans instead of white ones, and the room was filled with Russians 
of noticeably long beard, Smoking is not allowed here under any circum- 
stances; and" as nearly all Russians who are not Old Beli 
firmed smokers, this curious sect has the place all to itself We weie 
poUtely treated by the waiters, and, at the advice of the guide .ventured 
I eat I bUnni, for which the place is famous. It was so good that we ^ 
peated the order. Of course we had the inevitable — r£* found 
the tea the best that any restaurant has thus far supplied This tiakti 
has an excellent reputation for its tea and cookery ; the bill of fare is not 
laro-e but everything is of the best kind. 

"There is a Tartar restaurant where horse-flesh is said to be served 
regularly ; but whether this is true or not we did not try to find out. The 
plL is kept by a Russian, so that the assertion is open to some doubt. 
Iny one can go to the Tartar restaurant, but it is not frequented by Rus- 



TARTARS OF MOSCOW. 



269 



sians. The Tartars do not associate freely with the Kussians, though there 
is no hostility between them. They seclude their wives after the Moslem 
fashion, and a Eussian gentleman tells me that he has rarely had a glimpse 




TARTAR COFFEE-HOUSE IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA. 



of a Tartar woman, though he has lived near these people ever since he was 
born." 

For a general view of Moscow our friends took a drive to the Sparrow 
Hills, the spot whence Napoleon took his first and also his last look upon 
the city he came so far to conquer. 

On the way thither they stopped at the Gardens, which are the property 
of the Galitsin family, and also at a small palace or villa which is the prop- 
erty of the Empress. These interruptions delayed them, so that it was near 
sunset when they reached the Sparrow Hills and had the city in full view. 
As they looked at the sunlight reflected from the hundreds of gilded 
domes, and the great city spread over the undulating ground, they realized 
what must have been the feelings of the French soldiers as they gazed 
upon Moscow after their long and perilous journey to the heart of Kussia, 



270 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



There is still higher ground from which to look upon the city at the 
Simonoff Monastery, which has a belfry more than three hundred feet 
high The monastery dates from 1390. It was once the most important 
church establishment in Eussia, and possessed immense areas of land and 
as many as twelve thousand serfs. It was earnestly defended against the 
Poles in 1612, but was captured and plundered by them. It was a quaran- 
tine hospital in the plague of 1771, and a military one from 1788 to 1795. 

The French burned several of its buildings, but they were soon restored. 
The extent of the place will be understood when it is known that there are 
six churches inside the walls. Our friends passed some time there looking 
at the antique silver, gold, and other ornaments, and the costly vestments 
which have been handed down from ancient times. They climbed, to the 
top of the belfry, and had a view of the city which they are not likely to 
forget immediately. 

The visit to the Simonoff Monastery was a preliminary to an excursion 
to the Troitska Monastery, which will be described in the next chapter. 




GALLERY IN THE PALACE. 



AN ANCIENT MONASTERY. 



271 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

A VISIT TO THE TROITSK A MONASTERY, AND WHAT WAS SEEN THERE CURIOUS 

LEGENDS. -MONKS AT DINNER. — EUROPEAN FAIRS. - THE GREAT FAIR AT 
NIJNI NOVGOROD.-SIGHTS AND SCENES.-MININS TOMB AND TOWER -DOWN 
THE VOLGA BY STEAMBOAT. — STEAM NAVIGATION ON THE GRE \T RIVER — 
KAZAN, AND WHAT WAS SEEN THERE.-THE ROUTE TO SIBERIA. 

rpHE Troitska (Trinity) Monastery is about forty miles from Moscow 
and reached by railway in little more than two hours. Our friends 
took an early start, intending to see the monastery and return the same day 
which is by no means difficult, as there are three trains each way every 
twenty-four hours. Fred had spent the previous evening in reading up 
the history of the place they were to visit. As soon as they were seated 
in the train he gave the following summary to his companions : 

" The monastery was founded in 1342 by St. Sergius, a son of a Rus- 
sian nobleman of Rostof, who was famed for his intelligence and piety 
The Princes of Muscovy used to ask his advice in their contests with the 
lartars, as well as in other matters. Dmitry of the Don sought his bless- 
ing before going to the battle of Kulikova, where he defeated the Tartars ■ 
he was accompanied by two monks, disciples of Sergius, who fought by 
Dmitry's side during the memorable battle. In consideration of the great 
services thus rendered, the monastery received grants of land and became 
very rich. St. Sergius died in 1392, and it is said that he remained a sim- 
ple monk to the last. 

" In 1408 the Tartars laid the monastery waste, and scattered the 
monks. They reassembled about fifteen years later, and the monastery 
was re-established. It has never since been recaptured, though it was be- 
sieged by thirty thousand Poles in 1608. The monks made a vigorous de- 
fence, and the siege was finally raised by a Russian force which came to 
their assistance. The French started from Moscow for the monastery in 
1812, but only went about half way. The tradition is that the saint ap- 
peared miraculously, and covered the road leading to the monastery with 
such an array of soldiers in black that the French did not dare to attack 
them. 



272 -THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

« While the Poles were in possession of Moscow in 1612, the monas- 
tery aided the inhabitants with food and money. The Poles again sen 
an army to conquer the place, bnt it was repulsed by the monks without 
any assLnce from the Kussian soldiers. The plague and the cholera, 
ZrZZ both visited Moscow, have not entered Troitska, and conse- 
quently the place is much venerated for its sanctity. 

q "There I a legend that when the saint first came to the spot be met a 
huge bear in the forest ; the bear rushed forward to destroy him, but sud- 




COPY OF PICTURE IN THE MONASTERY. 

denlv uaused and from that moment the saint and the bear were friends. 
JKSf Adr days they lived together, and when the saint died the 
bear remained on the spot, and gave evidences of the most earnest gnef. 
Z story is implicitly believed by the ^\^^iet 
man from whose writings I have taken it says he heard it from the hps 
71 Russian lady, and narrated so artlessly that it would have been pain- 
fnl to have expressed any doubt of its truth. ' # 

Other legends of the monastery, and incidents showing its prominence 
iu Russian history, whiled away the time till the station at Troitska was 
reached After a substantial breakfast at the railway-station the party 
roceededto the famous edifice, which is more like a fortress than a re- 
S - establishment. Its walls have a linear extent ^ ^ ^ 
they are twenty feet thick, and vary in height from thirty to fifty feet 
They would ofier little obstruction to modern artillery, but it is easy to 
^ haTthey could make a stout resistance to such cannon as the Poles 
possesfed three centuries ago. There are towers at the angles, eight m all, 



SHRINE OF ST. SERGIUS. 



273 



and one of them is surmounted by an obelisk which bears a duck carved 
in stone, in remembrance of the fact that Peter the Great used to shoot 
ducks on a pond near the monastery. 

For what they saw at Troitska we will refer to Frank's journal : 
" There were crowds of beggars along the road from the railway-sta- 
tion to the gate of the monastery. It seems that the place is an object of 
pilgrimage from all parts of Kussia, and the beggars reap a goodly har- 
vest from those who come to pray at the shrine of the saint. Before the 
railway was opened, the high-road from Moscow seemed to pass through a 
double hedge of beggars, and the traveller was never out of hearing of 
their plaintive appeals for charity. 

" We were cordially welcomed to the monastery, and one of the monks, 
who spoke French, accompanied us through the place. There are ten 




WINDOW IN CHURCH OF THE TRINITY. 



churches within the walls, the oldest being the Church of the Trinity, and 
the largest that of the Assumption. The shrine of St. Sergius is in the 
former. It is an elaborate piece of workmanship, of pure silver, weighing 
nine hundred and thirty-six pounds, and is so constructed that the relics, 
of the saint are exposed. Near the shrine is a painting of the saint, that 
was carried in battle by Peter the Great and the Czar Alexis, and there is 
a record on a silver plate of other battles in which it was used. 

1.8 



274 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

" There are other pictures of the saint displayed on the walls of the 
church. The whole interior of the building is covered with ornaments in 
massive silver and gold, and it is no wonder the French made an effort to 
plunder the monastery when they learned of the treasures it contained. 
There is a representation of the Last Supper, in which the figures are of 
solid gold, with the exception of the Judas, which is of brass. The im- 




PITY THE POOR. 



ages are covered with pearls and precious stones in great profusion. In 
some cases they are so thickly spread that the metal can hardly be seen. 

"In the Church of the Assumption is a two-headed eagle, which com- 
memorates the concealment of Peter the Great under the altar during the 
insurrection of the streltzi. They showed us a well that was dug by bt. 



CURIOSITIES OF THE TROITSKA COLLECTION. 275 
Sergius, and discovered after its locality had been nnknown for nearly 
three hundred years. Near the chnrch is a tower two hundred and nine- 
ty feet high, and containing several bells, one of them weighing sixty-five 
tons. Eussia is certainly the country of gigantic bells. 

" A description of all the churches at Troitska would be tedious, es- 
pecially as we have spoken of the two of greatest interest. The sacristy 
is in a detached building, and contains more curiosities than I could de- 
scribe in a dozen pages. There are mitres, crowns, crosses, and other orna- 
ments that have been given to the monastery by the various rulers of Eus- 
sia or by wealthy individuals, many of them set with jewels of remarkable 
size and beauty. A copy of the Gospels, given by the Czar Michael in 
1632 is in heavy covers, ornamented with designs in enamel; in the cen- 
tre of the design on the front cover is a cross made with rubies, emeralds, 
and sapphires, and there is a similar 
though smaller cross on the back. 

" The robes worn by the priest- 
hood are as numerous and costly 
as those we saw at Moscow, and so 
are the ornaments that accompany 
them. The pearl head-dress which 
Catherine II. wore at her corona- 
tion is preserved here, and serves 
as an ornament on a priestly robe. 
There is a crown presented by Eliz- 
abeth, and an altar-cloth from John 
the Terrible. And so we could go 
on through a long list of magnifi- 
cent gifts from kings and emper- 
ors, and an equally long array of vestments worn by high dignitaries of 
the Church on state occasions. 

_ " The piety of the pilgrims is shown by their adoration, not of these 
jewelled crowns and diadems, but of the wooden utensils and coarse gar- 
ments which belonged to the founder of the monastery. These relics are 
distributed among the glass cases which contain the costly mementos we 
have mentioned, with the evident intention of setting forth as clearly as 
possible the simple ways of his life. 

" One of the curiosities they showed us was a natural agate, in which 
there is the figure of a monk bowing before a cross. The cross is very 
clearly defined, and so is the cowled figure kneeling before it, though the 
latter would hardly be taken as representing anything in particular if re- 




CUKICMJS AGATK AT TROITSKA. 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

o-arded by itself. We examined it carefully to see if 
there was any deception about it, but could not de- 
tect it if there was. The monk, the cross, and the 
rock on which the cross stands appear to be wholly 
formed by the natural lines of the agate. The stone 
is about four inches high, and oval in shape ; on one 
side it is rather dull and opaque, but it is bright 
on the other, and distinctly shows the eyes of the 

m °"'The monks of Troitska wear black caftans topped 
with high black hats without brims ; black veils hang 
down over their shoulders, and nearly every monk 
wears his hair as long as it will grow. We saw them 
at dinner in their refectory, where one of the number 
read the service while the rest went on with their 
eating and drinking; they were talking freely among 
themselves, and did not seem to listen at all to the 
reader. In general they appear to be well fed and 
cared for, and, so far as we could observe, their life 
is not a rigorous one. They offered carvings in wood 
ivory, and mother-of-pearl, and we bonght several of 
these things to bring away as curiosities. Among 
them was a paper-knife, with the handle representing 
St Sergius and the bear in the forest. The work 
was well done, and the knife will make a pretty or- 
nament for somebody's desk in America. _ 

"When we entered the refectory the monks in- 
vited us to dine with them, and we regretted that we 
had already breakfasted at the railway-station There 
is a lodging-house for travellers attached to the mon- 
astery, and comparing favorably with a Russian hotel 
of the rural sort. Nothing is charged for the rooms, 
but the lodger who can afford it must pay for his 
food, and in addition he is expected to drop some- 
thing into the contribution-box which the monks will 
show him before his departure. The cooking is said 
to be excellent, and the table as well supplied as any 
in Moscow. They have a pilgrim's table, where one may dine free of 
r-Ww but the food is simple and limited in quantity. 

^There £ a studio of painting in the monastery, where the monks and 




PAPER-KNIFE FROM TROIT- 
SKA. ST. SERGIUS AND 
THE BEAR. 



THE WEALTH OF THE MONASTEEY. 277 

their pupils, forty or fifty in all, were busily at work copying from relig- 
ious subjects of both Greek and Latin origin. They are not confined to 
church paintings, as we saw portraits of the Emperor and other members 
of the Imperial family, and several battle-scenes in which Eussian arms 





SPECIMENS OF ECCLESIASTICAL PAINTING ON GLASS. 

have figured. There is a very good painting representing the attack of 
the Poles upon the monastery, and another illustrating the defence of Se- 
bastopol during the Crimean War. 

" The monastery was enormously rich at one time, not only in the 
treasures it possessed, but in grants of land and serfs which had been given 
by the Government. In 1764 it had one hundred and six thousand male 
serfs, and its lands covered many thousands of acres. Though losing its 
serfs, it has not been without compensation, and the monastery is hand- 
somely supported, partly by an annual donation from the Government, 
and partly by the gifts of pious Eussians." 

Doctor Bronson and the youths returned to Moscow in the evening as 



278 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 

they had planned, and on the next day made their preparations for con- 
tinuing their journey. 

Their next place of destination was Nijni Novgorod, where they wished 
to attend the great fair, which was then in progress. They deeded to go 
by the express train, which leaves Moscow in the evening and reaches 




RUSSIAN COOPER'S SHOP AND DWELLING. 



Nijni Novgorod in the morning. The distance is about two hundred and 
seventy miles, and there is very little to see' on the way. 

The only place of consequence between Moscow and Nijm is Vladi- 
mir, named after Vladimir the Great. It has about fifteen thousand in- 
habitants, and is the centre of a considerable trade. Anciently it was of 
much political importance, and witnessed the coronations of the Czars ot 
Muscovy down to 1432. Its Kremlin is in a decayed state, and little re- 
mains of its former glory, except a venerable and beautiful cathedra . 
Our friends thought they could get along with the churches they had al- 
ready seen, and declined to stop to look at the Cathedral of Vladimir. 



THE GREAT FAIRS OF EUROPE. 279 

On arriving at Nijni they were met at the station by a commissioner 
from the Hotel de la Poste, to which they had telegraphed for rooms. In 
the time of the fair it is necessary to secure accommodations in advance 
if one is intending to remain more than a single day. Tourists who are 
in a hurry generally come from Moscow by the night train, spend the day 
at Nijni, and return to Moscow the same evening. Thus they have no 
use for a hotel, as they can take their meals at the railway-station or in the 
restaurants on the fair grounds. 

" This is practically the last of the great fairs of Europe," said the 
Doctor to his young companions as the train rolled out of Moscow. " Leip- 
sic still maintains its three fairs every year, but they have greatly changed 
their character since the establishment of railways. They are more local 
than general, and one does not see people from all parts of Europe, as was 
the case forty or fifty years ago. The fairs of France and Germany have 
dwindled to insignificance, and now the only really great fair where Eu- 
rope and Asia meet is the one we are about to visit." 

Frank asked how long these fairs had been in existence. 
"Fairs are of very ancient origin," the Doctor replied ; " that of Leip- 
sic can be distinctly traced for more than six hundred years. The word 
'fair' comes from the Latin feria, meaning day of rest, or holiday, and 
the fairs for the sale of goods were and still are generally connected with 
religious festivals. The Greeks and Eomans had fairs before the Chris- 
tian era ; fairs were established in France in the fifth century and in Eng- 
land in the ninth, and they were common in Germany about the begin- 
ning of the eleventh century, when they were principally devoted to the 
sale of slaves. 

« Coming down with a single bound to the great fair of Russia, we 
find that there was an annual gathering of merchants at Nijni more than 
five hundred years ago. Long before that time there was a fair in Kazan, 
then under Tartar rule, but Russian merchants were prohibited from go- 
ing there by order of John the Terrible. The fair of Nijni was removed 
to Makarieff, seventy miles down the river, in 1641, where it remained a 
long time. The monks of Makarieff controlled the fair until 1751, when 
it passed into the hands of the Government, and has remained there ever 
since. 

" The fair at Makarieff was held on low ground near the town. Ow- 
ing to an inundation in 1816, the Government restored the fair to Nijni, 
and decreed that it should be held annually between the 27th of July and 
the 22d of September. The ordinary population of Nijni is about forty 
thousand ; two hundred and fifty thousand merchants, laborers, and others 



280 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 

come to the fair, so that for two months of the year nearly three hundred 
thousand people are assembled here." , . . „ Tm , r ,„. 

« How are they all accommodated with lodgings and food? one of the 

y0 ""p e ermauent town of Nijni Novgorod," said the Doctor "is sepa- 
rated from Fair -town, if we may so call it, by the Kiver Oka, winch 
here ioins the Volga. The fair is held on a tongue of land between the 
Volga and the Oka, and Fair-town and Nijni proper are connected by 




NIJNI NOVGOROD DURING THE FAIR. 

bridges of boats. It is a regular town or city, built for the purposes of 
trad!. It has its governor, police force, fire brigade, and all the parapher- 
nalia of a city, and the Government collects by means of a tax about fifty 
thousand dollars for the support of the organization." 

« Then it is a city with a busy population for two months of the year, 
and a deserted town for the other ten ?" _ _ , 

"Exactly so," was the reply; "Fair-town at Nijni in season and out 
of season will remind you of the difference between Coney Island or Long 
Branch in July and in January. 



THE SIGHTS OF NIJNI NOVGOEOD. 



281 



" We'll drop the subject till to-morrow," said the Doctor, and with 
this suggestion the conversation was suspended. 

On their arrival at Mjni, where they expected to remain two or three 
days, the party went to the hotel as already stated, and then made a hasty 
survey of the stock sights of the place. They saw the Kremlin, which is 
a place of considerable strength, and contains the Governor's residence. 




NIJNI NOVGOROD AFTER THE FAIR. 



the military barracks, law-courts, telegraph station, and other public build- 
ings. There is a tine monument to Minin and Pojarsky, and in a church 
not far off is the tomb of the patriotic cattle-dealer. 

Our friends climbed to the top of Minin's Tower (Bashnia Minina), 
where they had a magnificent view of the surrounding country, including 
the valleys of the Yolga and Oka for a long distance, the permanent town 
and its Kremlin, the site of the fair, with its miles of streets, and its thou- 
sands of boats and barges tied to the river-bank. Frank recalled the view 
from the hill near Hankow, at the junction of the Han and Yang-tse in 
China, and pointed out many features of similarity. Fred said he was 
reminded of the junction of the Ganges and Jumna at Allahabad, and an 
appeal to the Doctor brought out a reference to the union of the Alle- 
ghany and Monongahela at Pittsburg. 

The permanent town was quickly disposed of, as the youths were im- 
patient to inspect the great fair. For an account of what they saw we 
will again refer to their journals. 

" Whal a cloud of dust there is here," said Frank, " and they say the 
dust turns to mud, and deep mud, too, after a heavy rain. They make a 



282 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

pretence of watering the streets when the weather is dry, but the work is 
not very well done ; and besides, the vast number of people walking about 
keeps the ground in very active occupation. < 

"Nearly all the houses are of brick or iron, and great care is taken to 
prevent fires The lower stories of the houses are used for shops, and the 
upper for storage, or for the residence of those who have hired the build- 
ings. The sewerage system is said to be excellent, 
the sewers being flushed several times daily by water 
pumped from the river. 

"The Governor's house is in the centre of this 
fair-town. Under it is a bazaar for the sale of goods 
from all parts of Europe and Asia, and we naturally 
took this house for the centre of trade. Along the 
streets and avenues there are shops of all kinds, and 
we seemed to be in the bazaars of all the Oriental 
countries we have ever visited, together with the shops 
and stores of all the Western ones. The list of the 
goods we saw would almost be a list of all the articles 
of trade throughout the civilized and uncivilized world, 
and we hesitate to begin. Name anything that you 
want to buy and the guide will take you to where it 
is sold. 

"The mode of dealing is more Oriental than Occidental, as the mer- 
chants in any particular kind of goods are clustered together as m the 
bazaars of the East. For a mile or more there are warehouses filled only 
with iron, and very judiciously they are on the bank of the river to save 
labor in handling and transportation. The tea-merchants are together and 
so are the dealers in Bokharian cotton, Tartar sheepskins, Siberian furs, 
and other things on the long list we do not intend to write out m full. 

"Restaurants of every name and kind are here, good, bad, and mditter- 
ent The best is under the Governor's house, and we recommend it to 
any of our friends who follow in our footsteps and visit Nijni. There 
are Russian, Armenian, and Catholic churches, and there are mosques and 
pagodas, so that every visitor may suit himself in religious matters 

"As for the people we confess to some disappointment, lhe great 
majority are Russians, as a matter of course, but it is rather greater than 
we had looked for. We had thought we would see all the countries ot 
Asia represented by their national dress, together with English, French, 
Germans, and other people of Western Europe. All were there, it is true, 
but not in the numbers we had expected. 




TARTAR MERCHANT. 



THE GREAT FAIR AT NIJNI. 283 

"Kirghese, Bokhariots, Turcomans, and other people of Central Asia, 
were to be seen here and there, and so were Kalmuck Tartars, Armenians, 
Persians, and an occasional Chinese. But sometimes we could walk around 
for an hour or so without seeing anybody but Russians, or hearing any 
language except the one to which we have become accustomed since our 
arrival at St. Petersburg. 

" We bought a few souvenirs of the place ; but, so far as we could ob- 
serve, the prices were quite as high as in the Gostinna Dvor of St. Peters- 
burg or Moscow. It requires a great deal of bargaining, and a knowledge 
of prices beforehand, to avoid being cheated, and even then you can never 




RETURNING FROM THE FAIR. 



be sure that you are fairly treated. The mode of dealing is emphatically 
Oriental, and a great deal of time is spent in dickering. Nobody seems 
to understand the advantages of fixed prices. 

"It is said that the annual business at the fair of Nijni Novgorod 
amounts to three hundred millions of dollars, though it has somewhat di- 
minished of late years. Much of the dealing is on credit, the goods being 
delivered at one fair and paid for at the next. Over a pot of tea trans- 
actions will be made that cover many thousands of dollars, and neither 
party has a scrap of paper to show for them. Collections through the 
courts would be next to an impossibility, and therefore personal honor is 
at a high premium. The merchant who fails to meet his engagements 
would be excluded from the fair, and thus deprived of the means of 
making new negotiations. 



284 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

" The Government requires the bakers to report each day the amount 
of bread they have sold, and thus a rough estimate of the number of peo- 
ple present is obtained. 

"There are two other fairs held at Nijni, but they are of comparatively 
little consequence. One, early in July, is devoted to horses ; the other, m 
January, is for the sale of timber, wooden-ware, and boxes. The latter is 
held on the ice of the Oka. In January, 1864, the ice gave way and a 
great number of people and horses were drowned." 

Two or three days were spent at the fair, and then our friends engaged 
passage on a steamboat to descend the Volga. The youths were surprised 
at the number and size of the steamers navigating this river, and still more 
surprised to find that many of them were of American pattern. The first 
passenger steamers on the Volga were built by Americans, and were found 
so well adapted to the work required of them that the system has been 
continued. Some of the boats are of the Mississippi model, while others 
resemble those of the Hudson Kiver. At first they had only side-wheel 
steamers, but in the last few years several light-draft stern-wheelers have 
been built (also by Americans) and found especially useful in threading 
among the numerous sand-bars at the period of low water. 

Many boats of great power are used for towing barges up and down 
the river, and find plenty of employment during all the time the Volga is 
free from ice. Altogether, about five hundred steamboats of all classes are 
engaged in the navigation of the Volga. 

It is sixteen hundred miles from Nijni to Astrachan, and the voyage 
usually takes five or six days. The boats do not run at night, on account 
of the difficulty of navigation, which is worse than that of the Lower Mis- 
sissippi, and more like the Missouri than any other American stream. Ihe 
fare (first class) on the best steamers is about twenty-five dollars, exclusive 
of meals which will cost from twelve to twenty dollars more. Competi- 
tion occasionally reduces the figures considerably, but, as a general thing, 
the Russians are too shrewd to conduct their business at a loss in order to 

injure that of a rival. . 

' " We are on a fine boat, which reminds me of the very one that carried 
us from St. Louis to Memphis," writes Fred in his journal. " She is called 
the Nadeshda (« Hope") ; and that reminds me it was the Hope on which 
I went from Memphis to Natchez, when Frank and I travelled down the 
Mississippi. Her captain speaks English, the steward speaks French, and 
we have learned enough Russian to get along very well with the servants 
without the aid of an interpreter. The cabins are large, clean, and com- 
fortable, and altogether we expect to make a comfortable voyage. 



TOWING BY HORSE-POWER. 285 

" We left Nijni about noon, and the captain says we shall be twenty- 
four hours getting to Kazan, where he will stop long enough for us to see 
the place. As I write, we are passing Makarieff, formerly the seat of the 
great fair, but now of little importance. 

" There are many boats and barges floating with the current in addi- 
tion to the huge tows which are managed by the steamboats. The captain 
says that before steam navigation was introduced there was a great deal of 
towing by horse-power ; and how do you suppose it was done ? 

a There was an immense barge, with powerful windlasses or capstans, 
which were operated by horses walking in a circle as in the old-fashioned 




LAUNCHING A RUSSIAN BARGE. 

cider-mills. A huge cable, all the way from a quarter of a mile to two 
miles in length, would be sent up stream, and either anchored in the chan- 
nel or fastened to a tree on shore. When all was ready the horses were 
set in motion, and the towing-barge, with all the boats and barges attached 
to it, slowly ascended against the current. Progress was very slow, but it 
was safe, as there was no danger from exploding boilers or overheated fur- 
naces. As many as two hundred horses were sometimes employed by 
single barges. 

" Our captain says that back from the river are many villages of Chera- 
mess, a people of Tartar origin, who preserve many of their ancient cus- 
toms. They are loyal subjects of the Government, and in nearly all their 
cottages one will find the portraits of the Emperor and Empress. In 
accordance with their custom of veiling women, they hang a piece of thin 
gauze over the portrait of the Empress. 



286 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

" The summer road between Kazan and Nijni is on the south bank of 
the river ■ the winter road is on the ice, and is marked with green boughs 
placed in a double row, so that the road cannot be missed. These boughs 
are placed by the Administration of Roads, and no one can travel on the 
ice of the river until it has been officially declared safe. The south bank 




TARTAR VILLAGE NEAR THE VOLGA. 



is quite abrupt, while on the north the country frequently stretches off 
in a level for a long distance. Most of the towns along the banks are said 
to have been founded by John the Terrible in his expedition for the capt- 
ure of Kazan. 

"We reached Kazan as promised soon after noon, and had the rest ot 
the day for seeing the place. We were all ready when the boat touched 
the shore, and were off as soon as we secured a carriage. The city is about 
five miles from the river, but we found the drive to it not at all uninter- 
esting We passed through a suburb where a mosque and a church stand- 
ing close together symbolized the friendly relations between the Russian 

and Tartar inhabitants. •. . 

"Kazan is a handsome city with about sixty thousand inhabitants, ot 
whom one-third are Tartars. We drove through the Tartar quarter and 
found it very much like the Russian, with the exception of the people in 
the streets and the signs on the shops. The buildings have the same gen- 
eral appearance, and were probably built by Russian architects. John the 
Terrible destroyed a large part of the city soon after its capture. Me 



INTERESTING FEATURES OF KAZAN. 287 

levelled everything in the Kremlin, including the tombs of the Tartar 
kings, and since his day the city has been swept by fire no less than threp 
times. Consequently there is very little of the ancient architecture; a 
portion of the Tartar wall of the Kremlin remains, and that is about all. 

"Kazan is famous for its manufactures of leather, soap, candles, and 
other things, and there are said to be nearly two hundred factories in and 
around the city. It is specially celebrated for its tanneries, and annually 
turns out large quantities of ' Eussia leather.' 

"We hadn't time to visit the University of Kazan, which has about 
live hundred students, and ranks first in the Empire for instruction in 




Oriental languages and literature. It has Persian, Arabic, Chinese, and 
other Oriental professors, and we were told that a student might study any 
one of twenty-six languages within its walls. 

" Of course we could not neglect the cathedral, where is preserved a 



288 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

miraculous picture, which was found unscathed in the midst of the ashes 
after a great conflagration. On its head is a diamond crown, presented by 
Catherine II. Near the town is a pyramidal monument in memory of 
those who fell during the siege and capture of the city. 

"Just at dusk we returned to the NadesMa, where we found a sub- 
stantial supper waiting for us, and made the acquaintance of a fellow-coun- 
tryman Mr. liegeman, who was to be our companion for the remainder 
of the voyage. He was familiar with Eussia, having lived in the country 
nearly twenty years, and travelled in all parts of it. He was well informed 
on every subject, and gave us a great amount of valuable statistics and de- 
scriptions. We talked until quite late in the evening ; and when he joined 
us at breakfast the next morning the boat was steaming down the Volga 
and nearing the mouth of the Kama, where several passengers were- to 

t ?<They are going to Perm,' said the captain of the NadesMa, 'and 
some of them are on the way to Siberia.' _ 

"We asked if this was the way to Siberia, and the captain explained 
that it was one of the routes. ' Steamers ascend the Kama to Perm,' said 
he 'and from Perm there is a railway to Ekaterineburg, which is on the' 
Siberian side of the Ural Mountains. The line has been extended to 
Tumen three hundred miles farther, and ultimately it will be pushed on 
till it reaches Irkutsk, on the shores of Lake Baikal, and close to the fron- 
tier of China.' , . , ... 

" How we wished we could make the journey through Siberia ! Over 
the Ural Mountains, across the Steppes, down the Amoor, and out into 
the waters of the Pacific Ocean! What a magnificent tour, and what 
strange things to see on the way ! 

"Mr liegeman heard our wish, and said he would tell us all about the 
trip across Siberia as soon as we were under way again. As the NadesMa 
steamed down the Volga he gave us an account, which we have tried to 
preserve as nearly as possible in his own words." 



AVATCHA BAY AND MOUNTAIN. 



289 



CHAPTEE XV. 

AVATCHA BAY, IN KAMTCHATKA. — ATTACK UPON PETROPAVLOVSK BY THE ALLIED 

FLEET. DOGS AND DOG-DRIVING.-RAPID TRAVELLING WITH A DOG-TEAM 

POPULATION AND RESOURCES OF KAMTCHATKA. — REINDEER AND THEIR USES 
—THE AMOOR RIVER. — NATIVE TRIBES AND CURIOUS CUSTOMS. — TIGERS IN 
SIBERIA. NAVIGATION OF THE AMOOR. — OVERLAND TRAVELLING IN SIBERIA 
—RIDING IN A TARANTASSE. — A ROUGH ROAD.— AN AMUSING MISTAKE -FROM 
STRATENSK TO NERTCHINSK.— GOLD-MINING IN SIBERIA. 

" TVT Y firSt VJSit t0 tllG Russian Em P ire >" said Mr. liegeman, " was made 
^▼-A- from San Francisco across the Pacific Ocean. I sailed out of the 
Golden Gate in the direction of Kamtchatka, and after a voyage of thirty 
days we sighted the summit of Avatclia Mountain, a magnificent volcano 
that serves as a landmark to vessels approaching Avatclia Bay. This bay 




290 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

been in Avatcha Bay, which he briefly described to the youths while Mr. 
Hegeman was lighting a cigar. 

« It is about ten miles across, and nearly circular," said the Doctor, 
" and its entrance from the ocean is nearly a mile in width. Avatcha 




PKTROPAYLOYSK, KAHTCHATKA. MOUNT AVATCHA IN BACKGROUND. 



Mountain is directly in front of the entrance, so that a navigator entering 
the bay has little more to do than steer straight towards the volcano and 
keep his vessel midway between the two sides of the entrance. Around 
the bay there are six or eight little harbors, completely landlocked. On 



REPULSE OF THE ALLIED FLEETS. 



291 



one of these harbors is Petropavlovsk (Port of St. Peter and St. Paul), the 
principal place of trade in Kamtchatka. Once it had a population of two 
or three thousand. It was attacked by the allied fleets in the Crimean 
War, and suffered severely. After the war the naval headquarters were 
removed to Nicolayevsk, at the mouth of the Amoor." 

"There is an interesting bit of history connected with the attack upon 
Petropavlovsk," Mr. Hegeman remarked, as the Doctor paused. 

"In the autumn of 1854 a combined fleet of six English and French 
ships attacked Petropavlovsk, and were twice beaten off by some land bat- 
teries and a Russian frigate moored in the harbor. Their commanders de- 
termined to make an assault by land with a strong force of sailors and 




A HERD OP REINDEER. 



marines. They attempted to take the town in the rear, but the Russian 
sharp-shooters created a panic among them, and drove the assailants over a 
steep bank about two hundred feet high. 

" The English admiral committed suicide in consequence of his disap- 
pointment, and the fleet sailed away. Next year seventeen shi23s came 
there together, as the allies had determined to conquer the town at all 
hazards. The Russians abandoned the place and retired over the hills, but 
they left five or six hundred dogs behind them. The allied fleet remained 



292 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

at anchor for an entire day without venturing to land, as it was supposed 
that there must be a very large garrison to keep so many dogs." 

" The baying of the dogs kept them at bay," whispered Frank to Fred. 

" Yes," replied the latter, " kept them anchored in the bay." 

" There was only one man, an American merchant, in the place when 
the allies landed. He remained to protect his own property, and had the 
American nag above his establishment. The allies burned all of the Gov- 
ernment buildings and stores, but did not injure anything else." 

Frank asked how they happened to have so many dogs in a small place 
like this. 

"Dogs are the beasts of burden of the country," was the reply, "and 
without them the people would have much difficulty in getting about. 
The dogs of Kamtchatka are much like the Eskimo dogs in appearance, 
character, and qualities, and are employed for the same purposes. They 
draw sledges over the snow and ice in winter, and are capable of great 
speed and^endurance. With a light load they can travel fifty miles a day 
for a week or more, and on some occasions they have been known to make 
a single trip of one hundred miles and more without resting. They are 
harnessed in pairs with a leader, and a team consists of anywhere from 
three to twenty-one dogs. A great deal depends on the leader, and he is 
always chosen from among the most intelligent of the dogs. An ordinary 
doo- is worth from five to ten dollars, while a leader readily brings from 
forty to fifty dollars. 

« The best travelling I ever heard of with a dog-team," continued Mr. 
Hegeman, "was when a courier was sent to carry to Petropavlovsk the an- 
nouncement of the Crimean War. Without changing teams he went from 
Boltcheresk to Petropavlovsk (one hundred and twenty -five miles) m 
twenty-three hours !" 

One of the youths asked what the dogs lived upon. 
"They live almost entirely upon fish," was the reply, "and they eat it 
in any condition-fresh, dried, or half decayed. Salmon are very abun- 
dant in Kamtchatka, and the cheapest thing for feeding the dogs. One 
fish a day is the ordinary allowance for a dog; but while he is on a jour- 
ney he receives only half his usual ration. The natives all say that these 
animals travel better half fed than when fully nourished, and many per- 
sons do not give them anything whatever for an entire day before they 
are to start on a journey." 

Many anecdotes about the dogs of Kamtchatka were given, and *rank 
and Fred were so interested in the subject that they forgot to note down 
what was said. When questioned about it afterwards, Frank said he learned 



TRAVELLING IN SIBERIA. 



293 




294 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

that it requires much experience to drive a dog-team ; that the man who is 
to drive must feed his own dogs and make them know he is their master ; 
that they will run away whenever they have the opportunity ; and they 
have a treacherous, thieving disposition. They are brave in large num- 
bers, but always cowardly when alone. Epidemics among them are fre- 
quent, and sometimes whole tribes of natives are thus deprived of then- 
dogs and unable to move about. 

"For further canine particulars," said Frank, "we refer yon to The 
Voyage of the Vivian to the North Pole and Beyond.' The youths who 




LIGHT-HOUSE AT GHIJIGHA. 

made that remarkable journey had considerable practical experience with 
dogs, and they personally visited Kamtchatka on then- way to the Pole. _ 

"Kamtchatka has about seven thousand inhabitants altogether, said 
Mr Hegeman. "Twelve or fifteen hundred are Eussians, and the rest 
belong to aboriginal tribes. They are chiefly engaged in hunting and fish- 
ing; there is very little agriculture in the country, as the climate is too 
cold to permit the cultivation of grain or garden vegetables. Kamtchatka 
is chiefly useful for its fur products. Five or six thousand sables are killed 
there every year, and considerable numbers of ermine, foxes, and other 
fur -bearing animals. Bears are numerous and dangerous, and so are 
wolves, which are very fierce in winter, though not at all troublesome , m 
the summer-time. Earthquakes are not unfrequent m Kamtchatka, but 
they do little damage, and are looked upon more as amusements than any- 

thl ^Ftm Kamtchatka I went in a ship to Ghijigha, on the Okhotsk Sea,'' 
continued Mr. Hegemau. " Ghijigha is very much like Petropavlovsk and 
has the same sort of popnlation-a mixture of Cossacks, peasants, and na- 
tives It is at the head of a narrow bay, and its light-house is nothing 



RIDING ON A REINDEER. 



295 




more than an octagonal hut with a fire on the roof. Many of the inhabit- 
ants are the descendants of exiles who were sent to the country down to 
about the middle of this century. 

"In the time of Catherine the Great, many Poles were sent to Kam- 
chatka, and it is a curious circumstance that the first voyage from that 
country to a foreign port was made under the Polish flag. ' Several Poles 
seized a small ship in the harbor 
and put to sea. They had no 
nautical knowledge, and no in- 
struments for navigation, but 
managed to reach Loo Choo, and 
afterwards the port of Macao, in 
safety. 

"At Ghijigha there were more 
dogs and more fish. I had my choice to go by land to the mouth of the 
Amoor Kiver, or by sea. I chose the latter course ; if I had gone by land 
I should have divided my time between riding on reindeer, riding after 
dogs, or going on foot." 

Fred thought it would be very nice to ride on a reindeer, and earnestly 
wished he could try it. 

"I think a very short trial would satisfy you," replied Mr. Hegeman ; 
"at any rate it was enough for me. You have a saddle which is simply a 
pad without stirrups, and must maintain your balance by means of a stick 
that you rest on the ground as the animal walks. An inexperienced man 
falls off a dozen times an hour for the first few days, and even old trav- 



ERMINE-TRAP. 




INTERIOR OF A NATIVE HOUSE. 



296 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

ellers get a good many tumbles in the course of twenty-four hours. The 
saddle is directly over the shoulders of the beast, as it would break Ins 
back if placed where we ordinarily put the saddle on a horse. Conse- 
quently you are shaken at every f ootstep-an excellent thing for a dyspep- 
tic, but not agreeable to a man in good health. 

'"Between the Okhotsk Sea and the Arctic Ocean the wealth of the 
country is in reindeer. Some natives own as many as forty thousand of 

these animals, and herds of 
a thousand or more are not 
at all rare. The natives 
wander from place to place 
in search of pasturage. In 
summer the deer eat the 
mosses and shrubbery that 
spring up all over the coun- 
try, and in winter they 
scrape away the snow to 
feed on the moss beneath 
it. The native uses the 
reindeer to ride upon or to 
draw his sledge ; he eats 
the flesh of the animal, and 
makes clothing and tent- 
covering of his skin. In 
fact he cannot get along without the reindeer any more than could the 
native of Newfoundland exist without the codfish. 

" But I was willing to let the natives have a monopoly of the reindeer 
for riding purposes, and took passage in a ship for the Amoor Kivei^ 

"The Amoor is the greatest river of Siberia, and flows into the Pacific 
Ocean It is navigable twenty-three hundred miles from its mouth, and 
receives several important streams from the south. In one part of its 
course it makes a great bend to the south, where it flows through magnifi- 
cent forests containing several trees peculiar to the tropics. The tiger 
roams up to the south bank of the river at this point, and the reindeer 
comes down to it on the north ; occasionally the tiger crosses the river and 
feeds upon the reindeer-the only place in the world where these two ani- 
mals come together naturally." § 

"What a funny idea!" exclaimed Frank. "To think of tigers in 

Siberia!" . , . . . . 

"Tigers are found elsewhere in Siberia," continued their informant. 




THE REINDEER. 



TIGERS IN SIBERIA. 



297 



" In the museum at Barnaool, in the Altai Mountains, I saw the skins of 
two large tigers that were killed in a Siberian farm-yard not far from that 
place, where they had come to kill one of the farmer's oxen. Tiger-hunt- 
ing is a regular sport with the Eussian officers in that part of Manjouria 
belonging to Siberia, and over a considerable part of the region bordering 
upon China and Persia. But to return to the Amoor. 

"I remained several days at JSTicolayevsk, the capital of the Maritime 
Province of Siberia, and a place of considerable importance. From there 
I ascended the river on a Bussian steamboat, passing through the country 





FISH-MARKET AT NICOLAYEVSK. 



of several tribes of people. There were Goldees, Gilyaks, and Manyargs, 
and others whose names would be like Greek to you, and therefore I will 
not bother you to remember them. They live by hunting and fishing, 
and have permanent villages on the banks of the river, in places where the 
fishing is best. In the fishing season they always have large quantities of 
fish hung out to dry, and consequently you can generally smell a native 
village before you see it. 

u The boat landed near a Gilyak village, and I went to see how the 
natives lived. They were not particularly civil ; in fact they hardly rec- 



298 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

oo-mzed our presence, but kept at work in the preparation of the morn- 
ing's catch of fish as though nobody was looking on. There were a dozen 
or more wolfish - looking dogs, and we came near being bitten by the 
brutes. The natives made a pretence of driving the dogs off, but were 
not half as earnest as we were on the subject. 

"They have some interesting customs and superstitions, ihey are 
pagans in religious matters, and worship idols and animals, and they have 




SCENERY ON THE AMOOK. 



a reverence for the tiger, eagle, bear, and cat. They keep eag es m cages, 
and when they can catch a bear or tiger they use him for a religious cere- 
mony, which ends with the animal being slaughtered. His flesh is eaten 
under the impression that it gives strength and courage to the eaters. 



LIFE OF r . 

They will not allow fire to be car- 
ried out of their houses, through 
fear of evil consequences, and they 
formerly had the custom of killing 
those who came to visit them. The 
more amiable he was, the greater 
was the chance of his being mur- 
dered." 

Fred asked how it could be ex- 
plained. 

" Very easily, when you know 
the reason," was the reply. " They 
believe that the spirits of the dead 
remain where they left the body, 
and guard and protect the spot. 
When a man whom they liked was 
about to leave, they did not hesi- 
tate to kill him for the sake of re- 
taining his spirit among them. A 




GILYAK MAN. 



3 GILYAKS. 299 




GILYAK WOMAN. 



Eussian priest was killed in this 
way, and the Government made the 
Gilyaks understand that they must 
put an end to the practice. 

" The Gilyaks have small fields 
and gardens, and do a little agricult- 
ure, but their great reliance is upon 
the river, which supplies them with 
fish for food and clothing." 

"How can fish supply cloth- 
ing ?" Frank asked, with a look of 
surprise. 

" Easily enough," was the reply. 
" The Gilyaks and other people of 
the Amoor take the skins of fishes, 
beat them till the scales fall off, 
dress them with oil till they are 
pliable, and then fashion them into 
garments. I have seen some very 



300 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

good coats and jackets made of fish-skins. The prettiest Gilyak girl I saw 
(and she had no great beauty to boast of) wore a coat of fish-skin that 
was gathered closely in at the neck and held around the waist by a girdle. 
A few yards away you couldn't distinguish it from cloth. 




NATIVE BOAT — AMOOR RIYER. 



"The Gilyaks row their boats by pulling alternately on the oars, while 
the Goldees, who are higher up the river, pull the oars simultaneously. 
The houses of the Goldees are superior in every way to those of the Gil- 
yaks. They are warmed by means of wooden pipes passing beneath 
benches on three sides of the room, and serving as seats by day and beds 




GOLDEE CHILDREN. 



at night. Like the Gilyaks, the Goldees live chiefly by fishing, but they 
give & more attention to agriculture, and many of them have cows and 
horses. One day we passed a village where a large fleet of boats was en- 
gaged in fishing for salmon and sturgeon. Two men tried a race with the 



AMONG THE GOLDEES. 



301 



steamboat, and fairly beat us for a short distance, though we were making 
nine or ten miles against the current. 

"The Eussians have established villages along the Amoor at intervals 
of twenty or thirty miles, where the steamboats are supplied with wood. 
Some of these villages are close to the native ones, and the people live in 
perfect harmony. At one of our stopping-places I suggested that I would 
like to see the inside of a Goldee house, and the captain kindly accompa- 
nied me to the native village. 

" Guid ed by a Eussian peasant, we picked our way among the drying 
fish, and reached the door. It was quite late in the evening, and all the 



VISITING A GOLDEE HOUSE AT NIGHT. 

people had gone to sleep. With some difficulty we roused the owner of 
the place, and persuaded him to admit us. Our guide carried a torch of 
birch bark, and as he held it aloft the sight revealed to us was a strange 
one. & 

"Twenty or thirty persons were asleep on the benches, or huddled to- 
gether to stare at the intruders. The captain explained that the Goldees 
keep their houses very warm, and sleep with little clothing; and certainly 



802 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

it did not seem as if the whole party had bedding enough for one-quarter 
their number. There was a smouldering fire in the middle of the room, 
a large kettle, set in brickwork, was at one side, and the rafters were hung 
with nets and fishing implements. A vieiousdooking dog stood growling 
in front of us, and needed only a word from his master to turn his growls 
into bites. I had no inclination to stay long, particularly as the atmos- 
phere was by no means pure, and it did not seem exactly polite to rouse a 




INAUGURATION OF GENGHIS KHAN. 



gentleman in the night and compel him to open his house simply to grat- 
ify a stranger's curiosity. 

« For a thousand miles or more the Amoor forms the dividing line be- 
tween Russia and China, the former country being on the northern bank, 
and the latter on the southern. There is a Chinese town of some twen- 
ty thousand inhabitants at one point, and smaller towns and villages both 

above and below it. , . 

"The whole valley of the Amoor was in the possession of the Chinese 
until 1853, when it was conquered by the Russians in a campaign that 
lasted less than two months, and was unaccompanied with loss ot lite 
General Mouravieff, then Governor-general of Eastern Siberia, organized 
an expedition and sent it down the river in boats. The Chinese were 
wholly unprepared for it, and the Russians had everything their own way. 



HOW THE AMOOR IS FORMED. 303 

Then colonists were sent to form the villages I have mentioned, and Kus- 
sia was so firmly established that she could not be disturbed. 

" And now, as you have doubtless studied the geography of Asia, will 
you tell me how the Amoor is formed ?" 

" Certainly," answered Fred. " It is formed by the rivers Argoon and 
Shilka, just as the Ohio is formed by the Alleghany and Monongahela. 
The Argoon comes in from the south, and the Shilka from the north. 
Genghis Khan was born in the valley of the Argoon, and the armies that 




went to the Tartar conquest of Europe were originally mustered on the 
banks of that stream." 

"The answer is correct," was the reply. "The spot where the rivers 
unite is called ' Oust-strelka ' (" Arrow-mouth "), owing to the shape of the 
tongue of land between the streams. The scenery is interesting, as the 
banks of the Argoon are steep, and the hills as far as one can see them 
are covered to their summits with dense forests. 

" Our steamboat turned into the Shilka, and, after making a few un- 
important landings, finished its voyage at Stratensk, twenty-three hundred 



304: THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

miles above Mcolayevsk. The river voyage was at an end, and from this 
point to St. Petersburg was a land journey of five thousand miles. Horse- 
power was to be my mode of conveyance for more than four thousand 
miles— a prospect by no means pleasant. 

« It was about the middle of October when I arrived at Stratensk, and 
bade farewell to river navigation in Siberia. By the advice of Eussian 




SCENE IN A POSTING STATION. 

friends I planned to go to Irkutsk, the capital of Eastern Siberia, before 
the snows fell, and there wait for the winter roads to become good enough 

for sledding. , _ , ,, 

"Irkutsk is about fourteen hundred miles from Stratensk, and there is 
a good wagon-road-at least it is called good in Siberia-connecting the 
two points. The road makes a detour around the southern end of Lake 
Baikal, and quite a distance is saved by crossing the lake on a steamer. 
I was told that I might have to wait a day or two to connect with the 
steamer, as it is not very regular in its movements. 



THE RUSSIAN POSTING SYSTEM. 



305 



" I had made the acquaintance of a Russian officer while ascending the 
Amoor, and long before reaching Stratensk it was arranged that we would 
travel together to the first provincial capital, where I intended stopping a 
few days. There I hoped to find some one else who was going in my 
direction, and thus would have the advantages of the companionship of 
some one who knew the language, and also to share the expense. It costs 
no more for two persons than for one, as the hire of horses and carriages 
is just the same, exactly as when you hire a cab in London or New York. 

" From one end of Siberia to the other there is a post-road, with sta- 
tions from ten to twenty miles apart, and there are similar roads leading 
from the great route to the towns north and south. A traveller must 
have a paderojnia^ or road-pass, which he obtains from the Chief of Po- 
lice at his starting-point. He pays at the rate of half a cent a mile for this 
road-pass, and it entitles him to the number of horses named in the docu- 
ment. For these horses he pays a rate fixed by law, usually two cents a 
mile for each horse. Ordinarily a traveller can get along comfortably 
with two horses, but if the roads are bad, three, and sometimes more, are 
necessary." 

Frank asked if the horses must be paid for at the time the paderojnia 
is taken. 

" Not at all," was the reply. " The money is paid at each station to 
the smotretal, or station-master. It is paid in advance, or may be given to 
the driver at the end of the ride." 

" A stranger must run a great risk of being cheated," said Fred ; " the 
station-master could make the distance out much greater than it really is, 
and thus turn a dishonest penny very often." 

" By no means can he do so," Mr. Hegeman answered, " if the stran- 
ger is on his guard. At every station there is an official certificate framed 
and hung up, showing the distance to the next station in both directions ; 
the most enterprising efforts of the smotretal to cheat the traveller can be 
frustrated by a study of this document. 

"And now for the means of conveyance," continued Mr. Hegeman. 
" Every station is required to keep a certain number of horses and drivers, 
and it must also have a stipulated number of wheeled carriages for sum- 
mer, and sledges for winter use. The wheeled carriage is called a telega; 
it is a rough sort of a wagon on wooden springs, and gives a great deal of 
jolting to the mile. A ride of a thousand miles in a telega may be guar- 
anteed to cure a very bad case of dyspepsia or kill the patient, and in some 
cases it might do both. The horses are driven at a breakneck speed, and 
the traveller finds himself tossed from side to side till he is bruised like a 

20 



306 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



rolled orange. The telega is changed, along with the horses, at every sta- 
tion ; the traveller and his baggage must be transferred, as the carriage 
and horses return to the station whence they came." 

"It must be very disagreeable to make these changes," remarked one 
of the youths, " especially at night or in a storm." 

"It is, indeed," was the reply; "and to obviate this the Eussians have 
a vehicle' called a tarantasse, which is larger,- better made, and in every 
way more comfortable than the telega. A traveller going on a long 
journey, and able to afford the expense, buys a tarantasse at starting, 
and sells it at the end of his ride. He thus avoids the necessity of 
changing at every station; and if he has a servant to attend to the pay- 
ments and other matters, he can sleep through the night with compara- 
tive comfort. 

" We started from Stratensk in a telega, as we could not find a taran- 
tasse for sale or hire, and changed at the next station. Luckily for us, the 





A TARANTASSE. 



smotretal had a tarantasse, which we hired as far as Stratensk, about 
sixty miles from our starting-point. It was old, and somewhat rickety, 
but it was better than nothing at all, and we gladly engaged it. 

" There are three classes of paderojnia for the Eussian post-roads. The 
highest is for Government couriers and great officials; the second for offi- 
cials not on Government business ; and the third for civilian travellers. 
My companion had a courier's pass, while I had a paderojnia of the second 
class ; consequently his was the best to use. 

<•< A traveller with a courier's pass is never detained for want of horses, 



THE RULE OF THE POST-ROAD. 307 

while others must take their chances. The second-class passport takes 
precedence Over the third, and in a very summary way at times. 

"Suppose Smith has a second-class paderojnia, and Jones one of the 
third class. Smith reaches a station and finds Jones with a team ready to 
start. If there are no more horses, the station-master detaches Jones's 
horses and gives them to Smith ; Jones must wait until he can be sup- 
plied ; it may be an hour, a day, or a week. 

"Three horses must always be kept ready for couriers, and the changes 
made very quickly. If all the horses belonging to a station are out when 
a lower-class traveller arrives, he must wait till a team returns and has 
rested. If he is willing to pay something extra rather than wait, he can 




CHANGING HORSES AT A SIBERIAN STATION. 



be accommodated ; the smotretal will obtain horses from the villagers at 
whatever advance on the regular price that he thinks the traveller will 
stand. Here is where the station-master has a chance to make something, 
and he usually makes it. 

" Tne horses are small and shaggy, but they are capable of great speed 
and endurance. They are never blanketed, even in the coldest weather, 



308 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

and their hair is thick and soft like the fur of a fox. Sometimes they 
kept up a steady gallop from one station to another, and did not seem to 
suffer by the speed. Frequently they travelled ten miles an hour, and 
when we were going down hill they did better than that. The way to go 
from one hill to another is to dash down the slope and across the level 
at full gallop, and thus obtain an impetus for mounting the next. Many 
of the hollows have corduroy bridges over the little streams that flow 
through them, and when we crossed these bridges at full gallop the taran- 
tasse or telega received a very lively shaking." 

Turning to Doctor Bronson, Mr. Hegeman suggested that the former 
should tell the youths about the search in Siberia for Sir John Franklin 

and his crew. _ 

The Doctor smiled as he recalled the story, which he gave with a pre- 
liminary explanation : 

"The Russians apply the term 'equipage' to any kind of vehicle, 
whether on wheels or runners. The same word is used in Russian as in 
French to denote the crew of a ship. 

"A few years after the disappearance of Sir John Franklin, the Eng- 
lish Admiralty requested the Russian Government to ascertain if any 
traces of that officer and his party had been found on the coast of Siberia. 
A general order was sent to all officials in Siberia to make inquiries about 
the 'Eno-lish Captain John Franklin and his equipage.' In due time came 
reports that nothing could be found, except in a single instance, where a 
petty official wrote as follows : , , 

«'I have made the proper inquiries. I can learn nothing about the 
English captain, John Franklin, but in one of my villages there is an old 
sleigh that no one claims, and perhaps it is his equipage.'" 

"To return to the road," said Mr. Hegeman, when the laugh created 
by the story had subsided. " We carried one, and sometimes two bells on 
the yoke of our shaft-horse, to indicate that we were travelling by post; 
every humbler vehicle was required to give us not only half but the whole 
of the road-at any rate, it was expected to do so. Sometimes we had it, 
and sometimes we did not ; if the drivers of the approaching vehicles were 
awake they usually turned out, but very often they were asleep, and then- 
horses had their own way. When this happened, our driver brought his 
whip-lash heavily across the sleeper as he passed him. The driver of a 
post-carriage has the right to thrash a common driver who does not get 
out of his way, and rarely lets the opportunity pass." 

Fred suggested that in this way he probably obtained some revenge for 
the kicks and cufls he received from his superiors. The rest of the party 



310 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

assented to the idea of the youth. Doctor Bronson remarked that the 
most cruel of the slave-drivers of the Southern States of America m for- 
mer times were the negro slaves who were placed in authority over their 
fellows, and he thought the same rule held good throughout the world 
in general. 

" It had been raining before we arrived at Stratensk, and consequently 
we found a great deal of mud on the roads. Several times we were mired, 
and had to send to neighboring farm-houses for additional horses, and twice 





GETTING OUT OF DIFFICULTY. 



we removed all our baggage and put our own shoulders to the wheel to 
get out of trouble. One of these performances was during a shower, and 
did not improve our condition or temper. 1 was ready to vote Siberian 
travelling a first-class nuisance, and felt downhearted at the immense dis- 
tance that lay between me and the railway-station at Nijni Novgorod 

"To make things worse, our Cossack servant had placed our pillows 
and blankets on the wet ground, and piled heavy baggage on top. For 
this stupidity my companion, the captain, remonstrated in very strong lan- 
guage, but all that he said could not dry our property. At the next sta- 



DINING AT THE STATIONS. 



311 



tion we stopped for dinner ; while we were eating our meal the dampened 
articles were somewhat improved bj being placed in front of the kitchen 
fire. 

" Once while descending a hill at full speed a wheel of the tarantasse 
came off, but no damage was done beyond bringing us to a very sudden 
stop. The two axles of the vehicle were about twelve feet apart, and 
connected by a pair of stout poles which had a great deal of 'spring' in 
them. Properly made, a tarantasse is by no means an uncomfortable vehi- 
cle to ride in, provided, of course, you are travelling over good roads." 

" What did you get for dinner at the station ?" Frank asked. 

" We had the samovar, with some tea and sugar, from our own stock, 
and then we had boiled eggs and bread. They had some cold mutton, 
of which I ate liberally, as I had an appetite like a tiger, but my friend 
would hardly touch it. He told me that mutton was rarely eaten by the 
Russians, and during my journey through Siberia I do not remember see- 
ing it on the table, except in a few of the way-side stations. This was all 
the more singular when there were great flocks of sheep in the country 
where we were travelling. The sheep belong principally to the Bouriats, 
a Mongol people who were the occupants of the country before the Rus- 
sians went there. 

"Eggs and bread are the only articles of food you can rely upon get- 
ting at the stations, and sometimes even the eggs are wanting. Bread is 
made from rye flour rather than from wheat, and its complexion is darker 
than that of the Boston brown bread of America, It is the bread of the 
peasant from one end of the Empire to the other, and a good many of the 
nobility prefer it to white bread. For my own part I never liked the 
black bread of Russia, but often ate it for lack of anything else. 

" Up hill and down dale we went, and on the second morning of our 
journey the broad and beautiful valley of the JSTertcha River lay before 
us. Two or three miles above the point where the JSTertcha joins the 
Shilka lies the town of Eertchinsk, a well - built place with five or six 
thousand inhabitants. It has an air of wealth and solidity, and large fort- 
unes have been made there by men interested in gold-mining. We en- 
tered the town through an arched gate- way, and drove to the house of a 
rich gold-miner with whom my friend was well acquainted. Hardly had 
we thrown off our wrappings before the samovar was steaming on the ta- 
ble. We were urged to stay to dinner, and, much to my satisfaction, the 
invitation was accepted by my companion." 

" Haven't I read about Nertchinsk as a place of exile ?" said one of the 
youths. 



312 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

" Quite likely you have," was the answer. " Nertchinsk and its gold- 
mines have a prominent place in the history of Siberian exile. Would 
you like to hear about it ?" 

" Of course we would," the youths eagerly responded. It was agreed 
that the journey through Siberia should be suspended until the new sub- 
ject was disposed of. 




VALLEY OF THE AMOOR ABOVE OUK-SE-ME. 



THE REVOLUTIONISTS OF 1825. 



313 



CHAPTER XYI. 

THE EXILES OF SIBERIA. — THE DECEMBRISTS AND THEIR EXPERIENCE — SOCIAL 
POSITION OF EXILES.— DIFFERENT CLASSES OF EXILES AND THEIR SENTENCES. 

CRIMINALS AND POLITICALS.— DEGREES OF PUNISHMENT. — PERPETUAL COL- 
ONISTS.— HOW EXILES TRAVEL. — LODGING-HOUSES AND PRISONS. -CONVOYS.— 
THRILLING STORY OF AN ESCAPE FROM SIBERIA.— SECRET ROADS.— HOW PEAS- 
ANTS TREAT THE EXILES. — PRISONERS IN CHAINS. 

" rpHERE are many errors in the popular mind of England and Ameri- 
J- ca concerning the system of exile to Siberia," said Mr. Hegeman, as 
he settled into a chair to begin his discourse on this interesting subject. 

" One error is that exiles are treated with such cruelty that they do 
not live long; that they are starved, beaten, tortured, and otherwise forced 
into an early death. 

" ^° doubt there have been many cases of cruelty just as there have 
been in prisons and other places of involuntary residence all over the 
globe and among all nations. Exiles are prisoners, and the lot of a pris- 
oner depends greatly upon the character of his keeper, without regard to 
the country or nation where he is imprisoned. Siberia is no exception 
to the rule. With humane officials in power, the life of the exiles is no 
worse, generally speaking, than is that of the inmates of a prison in other 
lands ; and with brutal men in authority the lot of the exile is doubtless 
severe. 

"In the time of the Emperor Nicholas there was probably more cru- 
elty in the treatment of exiles than since his death ; but that he invented 
systems of torture, or allowed those under him to do so, as has been al- 
leged, is an absurdity. 

"Let me cite a fact in support of my assertion. After the revolution 
of 1825, just as Nicholas ascended the throne, two hundred of the con- 
spirators were exiled to hard labor for life. They were nearly all young 
men, of good families, and not one of them had ever devoted a day to 
manual occupation. Eearecl in luxury, they were totally unfitted for the 
toil to which they were sentenced ; and if treated with the cruelty that is 
said to be a part of exile, they could not have lived many months. 



314 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

"The most of them were sent to the mines of Nertehinsk, where they 
were kept at labor for two years. Afterwards they were employed m a 
polishing-mill at Chetah and on the public roads for four or five years 
and at the end of that time were allowed to settle in the villages and 
towns, making their living in any way that was practicable. Some of 
them were joined by their wives, who had property m their own nght 
(the estates of the exiles were confiscated at- the time of then- banish- 
ment), and those thus favored by matrimonial fortune were able to set up 
fine establishments. . 

« Some of the Decembrists, as these particular exiles were called, from 
the revolution having occurred in December, died within a few years but 
the most of them lived to an advanced age. When Alexander II. as- 




INTERIOR OP AN EXILES HUT. 



cended the throne, in 1856, all the Decembrists were pardoned Some of 
them returned to European Eussia after thirty-one years of exile, but the 
found things so changed, and so many of their youthful companion d ad 
that they wrote back and advised those who were still m Sibena to ^stay 
there. My first visit to Siberia was in 1866, forty-one years after the De- 
cember revolution. At that time there were ten or twelve of the Decem- 
brists still living, all of them venerable old men. One was a prosperous 



SOCIAL POSITION OF EXILES. 315 

wine-merchant at Irkutsk ; another had made a fortune as a timber-mer- 
chant ; others were comfortable, though not wealthy; and two or three 
were in humble, though not destitute circumstances. Now, if they had 
been treated with the cruelty that is alleged to be the lot of all Siberian 
exiles, do you think any of them would have reached such an advanced 
age?" 

Silence gave assent to the query. After a short pause, Frank asked 
what was the social standing of these exiles, the Decembrists. 

" Jt was nearly, though not quite, what it was in European Kussia be- 
fore their exile," was the reply. "They were received in the best Si- 




EXILES PASSING THROUGH A VILLAGE. 



)erian families, whether official or civilian, and were on terms of friend- 
ship with the officials in a private way. They were not invited to strictly 
official ceremonies, and this was about the only difference between their 
treatment and that of those who were not exiles. Of course I refer to the 
time when they were settled in the towns, after their term of forced la- 



316 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

bor was ended. Before that they were just like any other prisoners con- 
demned to the same kind of servitude. 

" There were two of the Decembrists (Prince Troubetskoi and Prince 
Yolbonskoi) whose wives were wealthy, and followed their husbands into 
exile. When relieved from labor and allowed their personal liberty, these 
princes came to Irkutsk and built line houses. They entertained hand- 
somely, were visited by the officials, went very much into society, and in 
every way were as free as any one else, except that they were forbidden 
to leave Siberia. Nicholas was not of a forgiving disposition, and not till 
he died were the Decembrists free to return to St. Petersburg. ^ 

" A bit of social gossip adds to the interest of the Siberian life of 
Prince Yolbonskoi. There was some incompatibility of temper between 
the prince and his wife, and for a long time they were not particularly 
friendly. She and the children and servants occupied the large and ele- 
gantly furnished house, while the Prince lived in a small building in the 
court-yard. He had a farm near the town, and sold to his wife such of 
the produce as she needed for household use." 

Fred wished to know how many kinds of people are sent to Siberia. 
"There are three classes of exiles," was the reply: " political, relig- 
ious, and criminal offenders. The political ones include Nihilists and other 
revolutionists, and of course there is a great majority of Poles among this 
class ; the religious exiles are certain sects of fanatics that the Govern- 
ment wishes to suppress ; and the criminal ones are those who offend 
against society in all sorts of ways. None of them are ever called ' prison- 
ers ' or 'criminals' while in Siberia, and it is not often you hear them 
termed ' exiles.' In ordinary conversation they are called ' unfortunates,' 
and in official documents they are classed as 'involuntary emigrants.' 

"There are about ten thousand 'involuntary emigrants' going every 
year from European Russia to Siberia. These include criminals of all 
kinds, a few religious offenders of the fanatical sort, and some Nihilists and 
other' revolutionists. At every revolution in Poland the number of ex- 
iles for the next few years is greatly increased. After the revolution of 
1863 twenty-four thousand Poles were sent to Siberia, and other revolu- 
tions have contributed a proportionate number." 

"Do they all have the same kind of sentence, without regard to their 
offences '?" one of the youths asked. 

"Not at all," was the reply. " The lowest sentence is to three years 
banishment, and the highest is to hard labor for life. Sentences vary all 
the way between these two categories - for five, ten, fifteen, or twenty 
years' banishment without labor, or for the same number of years with 



A SIBERIAN TOWN. 



317 





BANISHED FOR FIVE TEARS. 



318 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

labor A man may be sentenced to a given number of years' banishment, 
of which a certain designated portion shall be to hard labor, or he may be 
sentenced for life, with no hard labor at all. The punishment is varied 

greatly, and, from all I hear, the sen- 
tence is rarely carried out to its fullest 
degree. The time of exile is not les- 
sened until a general pardon liberates 
entire classes, but the seventy of the la- 
bor imposed is almost always lightened. 
« Then, too, the exiles are distributed 
""• throughout the country, and not allowed 
" to gather in large numbers. The object 
of the exile system is to give a popula- 
tion to Siberia, and not to cause the 
death of the banished individual. Every 
effort is made to induce the exile to for- 
get the causes that brought him to Si- 
beria, and to make him a good citizen 
in his new home. His wife and children may follow or accompany him 
into exile at government expense, but they cannot return to European 
Kussia until he is personally free to do so. This permission is denied m 
the cases of the worst criminals who are sentenced to hard labor and 
must leave their families behind. 

" Figures I was glancing at this morn- 
ing show that in one year 16,889 persons 
were sent to Siberia, accompanied by 
1080 women and children over fifteen 
years old, and by 1269 under that age. 
Of the whole number of exiles mentioned, 
1700 were sentenced to hard labor, and 
1624: were drunkards and tramps. The 
status of the rest is not given, but they 
were probably sentenced to various terms 
of deportation without labor. 

" I should say further, in regard to 
this family matter, that an exile is re- 
garded as a dead man in the place from 

which he is sent, and his wife, if she remains in Europe, is legally a wid- 
ow, and may marry again if she chooses. The wifeless man in Siberia is 
urged to marry and become the head of a family, and whenever he mar- 




BANISHED FOR THREE YEARS. 



LIFE IN THE MINES. 



319 



ries, the Government gives him a grant of land and aids him in establish- 
ing a home. As long as an exile conducts himself properly, and does 
not try to escape, he does not find existence in Siberia particularly dread- 
ful, provided, of course, he has not been sent to hard labor, and the offi- 
cers in charge of him are not of a cruel disposition." 

Frank asked what work was done by those sentenced to hard labor, and 
how the men lived who were simply exiles and had not a labor sentence 
attached. 

" Those sentenced to katorga, or hard labor, are employed in mines or 
on roads, and in mills and factories of various kinds. Several years ago an 
order was issued that exiles should no longer be kept at work in mines, 
but I am told on pretty good authority that this humane decree has been 
revoked since the rise of Nihilism. In the mines of Nertchinsk, in the 




colonist's village in winter. 



latter part of the last century and the early part of the present one, the 
labor was fearful. The prisoners were in pairs, chained together ; they 
were often kept working in mud and water for fourteen or sixteen hours 
daily ; their lodgings were of the poorest character, and their food was 
nothing but black bread and occasionally a little cabbage soup. The great 
mortality in the mines attracted the attention of the Government, and the 
evils were remedied. 

" Down to the end of the last century, criminals condemned to the 
mines were marked by having their nostrils slit open, but this barbarity 
has not been practised for a long time. 

" Those sentenced to lighter labor are engaged in trades, such as making 
shoes, clothing, or other articles. Those who are simply exiled without 
labor can work at their trades, if they have any, preciseiy as they would 



320 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 

do at home If they are educated men they may practise their profes- 
sions, give instruction to young people, or find employment with merchants 
as book-keepers or other assistants in business. Some years ago the per- 
mission for exiles to engage in teaching anything else than music, drawing 
and painting was revoked, when it was discovered that some of them had 
been using their opportunities to spread revolutionary doctrines. Whether 
this order is yet in force I do not know. 

"The next thing to hard labor in Siberia is the sentence to become a 
perpetual colonist.' This means that the exile is to make his living by till- 
ing the soil, hunting, fishing, or in any other way that may be permitted 
by the authorities ; he must be under the eye of the police, to whom he re- 
ports at regular intervals, and he must not go beyond certain limits that are 

prescribed to him. , 
« The perpetual colonist has a grant of land, and is supplied with tools 
and materials for building a house; he receives flour and other provisions 
for three years, and at the end of that time he is supposed to be able to 
take care of himself. Where he is sent to a fertile part of the country, his 
life is not particularly dreadful, though at best it is a severe punishment 
for a man who has been unaccustomed to toil, and has lived in luxury up 
to the time of being sent to Siberia. Many of these colonists are sent to 
the regions in or near the Arctic circle, where it is almost continuous win- 
ter, and the opportunities for agriculture are very small Only a few 
things can be made to grow at all, and the exile doomed to such a resi- 
dence must depend mainly upon hunting and fishing. If game is scarce, 
or the fishing fails, there is liable to be great suffering among these un- 

lmP F T he friends of an exile may send him money, but not more than 
twenty-five roubles (about $20) a month. As before stated the wife of an 
exile may have an income separate from that of her husband, and if she 
chooses to spend it they may live in any style they can afford. 

« Many criminal and political exiles are drafted into the army m much 
the same way that prisons in other countries are occasionally emptied when 
recruits are wanted. They receive the same pay and treatment as other 
soldiers and are generally sent to distant points, to diminish the chances of 
dettio'n Most of these recruits are sent to the regiments in the Caucasus 
and Central Asia, 'and a good many are found in the Sib eria n regi ments 

« All money sent to exiles must pass through the hands of the officials 
It is a common complaint, and probably well founded, that a goodly part 
of this money sticks to the hands that touch it before it reaches its right- 
ful owner. The same allegation is made concerning the allowances of 



EXILES IN IRKUTSK. 



321 




EXILES LEAVING MOSCOW. 



money and flour, just enough to support life, that are given to exiles who 
are restricted to villages and debarred from remunerative occupation." 

" Did you personally meet many exiles while you were in Siberia ?" 
Frank inquired. 

" I saw a great many while I was travelling through the country," Mr. 
liegeman answered, " and in some instances had conversations with them. 
At the hotel where I stopped in Irkutsk the clerk was an exile, and so was 
the tailor that made an overcoat for me. Clerks in stores and shops, and 
frequently the proprietors, were exiles ; the two doctors that had the 
largest practice were ' unfortunates ' from Poland, and so was the director 
of the museum of the Geographical Society of Eastern Siberia. Some of 
the isvoshchiks were exiles. On one occasion an isvoshchik repeated the 

21 



322 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



conversation which I had with a friend in French, without any suspicion that 
he understood what we were saying. Hardly a day passed that I did 
not meet an 'unfortunate,' and I was told that much of the refinement 
of society in the Siberian capital was due to the exiles. In talking with 
them I was careful not to allude in any way to their condition, and if they 
spoke of it, which was rarely the case, I always managed to turn the con- 
versation to some other subject. 

« When on the road I met great numbers of exiles on their way east- 
ward. Five-sixths of them were in sleighs or wagons, as it has been found 
cheaper to have them ride to their destinations than to walk. Those on 
foot were accompanied by their guards, also on foot ; there was a wagon 




or sleigh in the rear for those who were ill or foot-sore, and there were 
two or more men on horseback to prevent desertions. Formerly all prison- 
ers were obliged to walk to their destinations. The journey from St. Peters- 
burg to Nertchinsk required two years, as it covered a distance of nearly 

five thousand miles." . 
" Do, they sleep in the open air when on the road, or are they lodged m 

houses ?" inquired Fred. 

"There are houses every ten or fifteen miles, usually just outside the 



CONVOYS ON THE ROAD. 



323 



villages," was the reply. " In these houses the prisoners are lodged. The 
places are anything but inviting, as the space is not large. No attempt is 
made to keep it clean, and the ventilation is atrocious. In winter it is a 
shelter from the cold, but in summer the prisoners greatly prefer to sleep 
out-of-doors. Sometimes the guards will not grant permission for them to 
do so, owing to the danger of desertion, but the scruples of the guards may 
be overcome by a promise obtained from all that no attempt will be made 
to escape, and that everybody shall watch everybody else. 

" From fifty to two hundred exiles form a batch or convoy. They are 
sent off once or twice a week, according to the number that may be on 
hand. All the^ convoys of exiles go to Omsk, in Western Siberia, and from 
there they are distributed throughout the country — some in one direction 




A SIBERIAN TALLEY. 



and some in another. Those that travel on foot rest every third day, and 
the ordinary march of a day is about fifteen miles ; those in carriages are 
hurried forward, only resting on Sundays, and not always then." 

"Do the guards of a convoy go all the way through with the pris- 
oners P 



324 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

" No, they do not ; they go from one large town to another. In the 
large towns there are prisons which serve as depots where exiles are accu- 
mulated, and the distribution of prisoners is generally made from these 
points. The officers and soldiers in charge of a convoy take their prison- 
ers to one of these depots and deliver up their charges ; receipts are given 
for the number of men delivered, just as for so many boxes or bales of 
goods. The guard can then return to its starting-point, and the prisoners 
are locked up until the convoy is ready for the road again. 

« The guards are responsible for their prisoners, both from escape and 
injury. If a man dies on the road his body is carried to the next station 
for burial, so that the station-master and others may certify to the death ; 
and if a man is killed while attempting to escape, the same disposition 
must be made of his body. 

" Some years ago a Polish lady who was going into exile fell from a 
boat while descending a river. She had a narrow escape from drowning, 
and the officer in charge of her was very much alarmed. When she was 
rescued from the water, he said to her, ' I shall be severely punished if 
you escape or any accident happens to you. I have tried to treat you 
kindly, and beg of you, for my sake, not to drown yourself or fall into 
the river again.' " 

"But don't a good many escape from Siberia, and either go back to 
their homes or get to foreign countries ?" 

"The number of escapes is not large," Mr. Hegeman answered, "as the 
difficulties of getting out of the country are very great. In the first place, 
there is the immense distance from the middle of Siberia to Moscow or St. 
Petersburg, or, worse still, to Poland. Nobody can hire horses at a station 
without showing his paderojnia, and this is only issued by the police-mas- 
ter, who knows the name and probably the face of every exile in his dis- 
trict. Even if a man gets a paderojnia by fraud, his absence would soon 
be discovered, and his flight can be stopped by the use of the telegraph. 

"If an exile should try to get out of the country by going northward 
he would be stopped by the shores of the Arctic Ocean. If he goes to the 
south he enters China, or the inhospitable regions of Central Asia, where it 
is difficult, if not impossible, for a European to travel alone. 

" Occasionally some one escapes by way of the Amoor Kiver, or the 
ports of the Okhotsk Sea ; but there are not many ships entering and 
leaving those ports, and the police keep a sharp watch over them to make 
sure that they do not carry away more men than they bring. I once met 
in Paris a Pole who had escaped from Siberia by this route. By some 
means that he would not reveal to me, he managed to get out of the 



ESCAPING FROM SIBERIA. 



325 



Amoor River and cross to the island of Saghalin. The southern half of the 
island was- then in possession of the Japanese, and he lived among them 
for several months. Then he got on board an American whaling-ship, and 
worked his passage to San Francisco, where he found some countrymen, 
who helped him on his way to Paris. 

"I know another man, a Russian nobleman, who escaped from Siberia 
and went back over the route by which he had come. For convenience I 




will call him Ivanoff, though that was not his name. He accomplished it 
in this way : 

"He had concealed quite a sum of money about his person, which the 
guards failed to find after searching him repeatedly. His offence was 
political, and he was sentenced to twenty years' exile. While his convoy 
was on the road between Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk, he arranged to change 
names with Petrovitch, a criminal who had been sentenced to three years' 
banishment, and was to remain near Irkutsk. Ivanoff was to go beyond 
Lake Baikal, whence escape is much more diflicult. For one hundred 
roubles the criminal consented to the change, and to take his chances for 
the result. 

" The substitution was made at the depot in Irkutsk, where the names 



326 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

were called off and the new convoys made out. The convoy for the trans- 
Baikal was first made up, and when Ivanoff's name was read the>>r g lar 
stepped forward and answered the question as to Ins sentence. The offi- 
cers who had accompanied them from Krasnoyarsk were not present, and 
so there was no great danger of the fraud heing discovered ; the convoy 
was made np, the new officers moved off, and that was the last my friend 
saw of his hired substitute. 

"Ivanoff (under his new name of Petrovitch) was sent to live in a 
village about twenty miles from Irkutsk, and required to report twice a 




ESCAPING EXILES CROSSING A STREAM. 



week to the police. He found employment with a peasant farmer and 
managed to communicate with a friend in *^*^.*«™ ?T 
much difficulty. The peasant used to send him to market with the 
piod ce of the farm, as he found that Ivanoff could obtain better 
prices than himself; the fact was he generally sold to his fnend who 
purposely overpaid him, and if he did not find his fnend he added a h tie 
to the amount out of his own pocket. Ivanoff and his friend haggled 



GOOD USE OF MONEY. 



327 



a great deal over their transactions, and thus conversed without arousing 
suspicion. 

u . Things went on in this way for some months, and the good conduct 
of the apparently reformed criminal won him the favor of the police-mas- 
ter to whom he was required to report. His time of reporting was ex- 
tended to once a week, and later to once a month. This gave him the 
chance of escaping. 

i " By a judicious use of his money he secured the silence of his em- 
ployer and obtained a paderojnia of the second class. The day after re- 




ivanoff's cave. 



porting to the police he went to fish in the Angara, the river that flows 
past Irkutsk and has a very swift current. As soon as he was missed his 
employer led the search in the direction of the river. The coat, basket, 
and fishing-rod of the unfortunate man lay on the bank ; it was easy to 
see that he had been standing on a stone at the edge of the water, and the 



328 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

stone having given way the river had swallowed Ivanoff, and carried his 
body away towards the' Arctic Ocean. Some money was in the pocket of 
the coat, and was appropriated by the officers. 

" But instead of being drowned, Ivanoff was safely concealed m a cave 
under a large rock in the forest. He had found it on one of his hunting 
excursions, and had previously conveyed to it a quantity of provisions, to- 
gether with some clothing supplied by his friend in Irkutsk. There he 
remained for a fortnight; then lie went to Irkutsk, and started on his 

journey. . . ■ . 

"People leaving Irkutsk frequently drive to the first station m then- 
own vehicles, and there hire the carriages of the posting service. So one 
evening Ivanoff rode out to the station in a carriage hired in front of the 
hotel. He did not tell me, but I suspect that his friend supplied the car- 
riage, and possibly handled the reins himself . 

"At the station he boldly exhibited his paderojnia and demanded 
horses, and in a few minutes he was on the road. Safe \ Well, he could 
never tell whether he was safe or not, as the telegraph might at any mo- 
ment Hash an order for his detention. 

u 0n and 011 he went. He pretended to be, and really was, in a great 
hurry. He was liberal to the drivers, but not over-liberal, lest he might 
be suspected. Suspicion would lead to inquiry, and inquiry would be fol- 
lowed by arrest. But he obtained the best speed that could be had for a 
careful use of money, and was compelled to be satisfied. 

« Several times he thought he had been discovered, and his feelings 
were those of intense agony. At one of the large stations the smotretal 
came to him with an open telegram which said a prisoner was missing, 
and orders had been sent along the line to watch for him. 

" Ivanoff took the telegram and read it. Then he noted down the de- 
scription of the fugitive (happily not himself), and told the smotretal to 
take no further trouble till he heard from him, but to keep a sharp watch 
for all new arrivals. 'Unless I telegraph you from the next town,' said 
he, 'you may be sure that he has not passed any of the intervening sta- 
tions.' I'll; 

« He went on, and heard no more of the matter. At another point he 
fell in with a Eussian captain going the same way as himself. The captain 
proposed they should travel together, for the double purpose of compan- 
ionship and economy. Much as he disliked the proposal, he was forced to 
accede, as a refusal might rouse suspicion. 

"Luckily for him, his new friend was garrulous, and did most ol the 
talking; but, like most garrulous people, he was inquisitive, and some of 



A DISAGREEABLE MEETING. 



329 




EXILES AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 



his queries were decidedly unpleasant. Ivanoff had foreseen just such a 
circumstance, and made up a plausible story. He had just come to Sibe- 
ria, aud only three days after his arrival was summoned back by the an- 
nouncement of his father's death. His presence was needed in St. Peters- 
burg to arrange the financial affairs of the family. 

"By this story he could account for knowing nobody in Siberia; and 
as he was well acquainted with St. Petersburg he could talk as freely as 
one might wish about the affairs of the capital. He was thrown into a 
cold perspiration at one of the stations, where his garrulous companion 
proposed, as a matter of whiling away the time after breakfast, that they 
should examine the register for the record of their journeys eastward. 
Ivanoff managed to put the idea out of his head, and ever after made their 
stay at the stations as short as possible. 



330 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



"Imagine Ivanofl's feelings when one day the other said, 
'"Exiles sometimes escape by getting forged passports and travelling 
on them. Wouldn't it be funny if you were one ? Ha ! ha ! ha !' 

« Of course Ivanoff laughed too, and quite as heartily. Then he re- 
torted, . 

'"Now that you mentioned it, I've half a mind to take you to the 
next police-station and deliver you up as a fugitive. Ha ! ha ! ha ! Sup- 
pose we do it, and have some fun with the police V 

"Thereupon the serious side of the afiair developed in the mind of 
Mr Garrulity. He declined the fun of the thing, and soon the subject 
was dropped. It was occasionally referred to afterwards, and each thought 
how funny it would be if the other were really a fugitive. 

» They continued in company until they reached Kazan. There they 
separated, Ivanoff going to Nijni Novgorod and Moscow, and from the 
latter proceeding by railway to Smolensk and Warsaw. From Warsaw he 
went to Vienna. As soon as he set foot on the soil of Austria he removed 
his hat and, for the first time in many months, inhaled a full breath of air 
without the feeling that the next moment might see him in the hands of 
the dreaded police. He was now a free man." 
" And what became of his companion V 

"When they separated at Kazan, the latter announced his intention ot 
descending the Volga to Astrachan. It was fully a year afterwards that 
my friend was passing a cafe in Paris, and heard his assumed name called 
by some one seated under the awning in front of the establishment. Turn- 
ing in the direction of the voice, he saw his old acquaintance of the Sibe- 
rian road. „ 

"They embraced, and were soon sipping coffee together, lvanott 
talked freely, now that he was out of danger of discovery, and astonished 
his old acquaintance by his volubility. At length the latter said, 

'"What a flow of language you have here in Pans, to be sure. lou 
never talked so much in a whole day when we were together as in the 

hour we've sat here.' 

'"Good reason for it,' answered Ivanoff. 'I had a bridle on my 
tongue then, and it's gone now. I was^ escaping from a sentence of twen- 
ty years in Siberia for political reasons.' 

' '"And that's what made you so taciturn,' said the other. I was 
escaping from the same thing, and that's what made me so garru ous 
When we met at that station I feared you might be on the lookou 
for me; and much as I hated doing so, I proposed that we should travel 

together.' 



SECRET ROAD THROUGH SIBERIA. 



331 



" They had a good laugh over the circumstances of their journey, 
where each was in mortal terror of the other. The one was talkative and 
the other silent for exactly the same reason — to disarm suspicion. 

"I could tell you other stories of escaping from exile, but this one 
is a fair sample of them all. Of those who attempt to leave the country 
not one in twenty ever succeeds, owing to the difficulties I have men- 
tioned, and the watchfulness of 
the police. The peasants of Si- 
beria will generally help an escap- 
ing exile, but they do not dare to 
do it openly. Many of them put 
loaves of bread outside their win- 
dows at night, so that the runa- 
ways can come and obtain food 
without being seen. They plant 
little patches of turnips near the 
villages for the same reason, and 
call them gifts to the 'unfortu- 
nates.' Whenever the soldiers 
find any of these turnip-patches 
they destroy them, in order to 
hinder the progress of fugitives. 

" There is said to be a secret 
road or path through Siberia 
known only to the exiles ; it is 
about two thousand miles long, 
avoids all the regular lines of 
travel, and keeps away from the 
towns and villages. It winds over 

plains and among the mountains, through forests and near the rivers, and 
is marked by little mounds of earth, and by notches cut in the trees. 

" Those who travel this road must undergo great hardship, and it is said 
that not more than half who undertake it are ever heard of again. They 
perish of starvation or cold, or may venture too near the villages in search 
of food, and fall into the hands of the police. The path must be travelled 
on foot, as it is not sufficiently broad for horses ; and when any part of it 
is discovered by the soldiers the route must be changed. The exiles have 
means of communicating with each other, and no matter how closely the 
authorities may watch them, an occurrence in one Siberian prison will 
soon be known at all others in the country." 




SIBERIAN PEASANTS. 



332 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

Frank asked Mr. liegeman if he had ever seen any prisoners in Siberia 
wearing chains ? 

"Many of them," was the reply, "especially in the prisons in the 
towns, and at the places where they are kept at hard labor. The simple 
exiles are not required to wear chains ; it is only those condemned to hard 




SIBERIAN MILK-WOMEN. 



labor for a long term of years that are thus oppressed. By an old law of 
Russia the chains must not weigh more than five pounds ; there is a belt 
around the waist, and from this belt a chain extends to an iron band around 
each ankle. The clanking of the chains, either on the road or in the pris- 
ons, has a most horrible sound. 

"The continued use of this relic of barbarism is strenuously opposed 
by a great manv Russians. With the exception of the 'ball and chain,' 
which is a form of military punishment everywhere, no other Christian 
nation now requires its prisoners to wear chains continually. If the Em- 
peror of Russia would issue a decree that henceforth no prisoner shall be 
put in chains except for specially unruly conduct or other good cause, and 



A PAUSE, AND THE EEASON FOR IT. 



333 




SIBERIA IN SUMMER. 



abolish altogether the present regulations about chains, he would take a 
long advance step for his nation." 

Doctor Bronson and the youths agreed with him. Fred was about to 
ask a question when one of the stewards made the announcement, "Oled 
gotoveij, gospoda /" (" Dinner is ready, gentlemen !") 

Siberia and its exiles were forgotten for the time, as the party ad- 
journed to the dining-saloon of the steamer. 



334 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

CHARACTER OF THE SIBERIAN POPULATION. — ABSENCE OF SERFDOM, AND ITS 
EFFECT -A RUSSIAN FETE. — AMUSEMENTS OF THE PEASANTRY. - COURTSHIP 
AND MARRIAGE. - CURIOUS CUSTOMS. — WHIPPING A WIFE. - OVERLAND 
THROUGH SIBERIA AGAIN. -CHETAH AND THE BOURIATS.-IN A BOURI AT VIL- 
LAGE VERCKNE UDINSK. — SIBERIAN ROBBERS. — TEA-TRAINS AND TEA-TRADE. 

— KIACHTA. LODGED BY THE POLICE. — TRADE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA. 

WHEN the conversation about Siberia was resumed, Frank suggested 
that there must be a great many people in that country who were 
descended from exiles, since it had been for a long time a place of banish- 
ment, and the exiles were accompanied in many cases by their families. 

« Your supposition is correct," said Mr. Hegeman ; " the descendants 
of exiles are probably more numerous to-day than are the exiles themselves. 
Eastern Siberia is mainly peopled by them, and Western Siberia very large- 
ly so. All serfs exiled to Siberia under the system prevailing before the 
emancipation became free peasants, and could not be restored to their 
former condition of servitude. 

" Many descendants of exiles have become wealthy through commerce 
or gold-mining, and occupy positions which they never could have obtained 
in European Eussia. When I visited Irkutsk I made the acquaintance of 
a merchant whose fortune ran somewhere in the millions. He had a large 
house, with a whole retinue of servants, and lived very expensively. He 
was the son of an exiled serf, and made his fortune in the tea-trade. 

"Many prominent merchants and gold-miners were mentioned as ex- 
amples of the prosperity of the second and third generations from exiles. 
Of those who had made their own fortunes in the country the instances 
were by no means few. One, an old man, who was said to have a large 
fortune and a charming family of well-educated children, was pointed out 
as an illustration of the benefits of exile. Forty years before that time he 
was sent to Siberia by his master out of the merest caprice. In Siberia he 
obtained fortune and social position. Had he remained in Europe he 
would probably have continued a simple peasant, and reared his children 
in ignorance. 



EXILES PREFERRING SIBERIA TO EUROPE. 



335 



" The advantages of Siberia are further shown by the fact that a great 
many exiles, decline to return to European Russia after their terms of 
service are ended. Especially is this the case with those who are doing 
well financially, or have families with them, either from their old tomes 




AN EXILE PEASANT AND HIS FRIENDS. 



or by marriage in Siberia. I talked with several intelligent Poles, who 
said they did not intend returning to Poland. ' We were drawn unwill- 
ingly into the acts that caused our banishment,' they said, £ and may suffer 
again in the same way if we go home ; in Siberia there are no disturbing 
influences around us, and we prefer to stay here.' On the other hand, the 
love of home is very strong with many exiles, and they take the first op- 
portunity of leaving the country of their banishment." 



336 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



Fred asked if they Lad the same system of serfdom in Siberia before 
the emancipation as in European Eussia. 

" At the time of the emancipation," said Mr. Hegeman, " there was 
only one proprietor of serfs in all Siberia ; he was the grandson of a gen- 
tleman who received a grant of land, with serfs, from Catherine II. None 
of the family, with a single exception, ever attempted to exercise more 
than nominal authority, and that one was murdered in consequence of en- 
forcing his full proprietary rights. 

« Siberia was a land of freedom, so far as serfs were concerned. The 
system of serfdom never had any foothold there. The Siberians say that 




A SIBERIAN LANDSCAPE. 



the superior prosperity enjoyed by the peasants of their part of Eussia 
had a great deal to do with the emancipation measures of Alexander II. 
The Siberian peasants were noticeably better fed, clothed, and educated 
than the corresponding class in European Eussia, and the absence of mas- 
ters gave them an air of independence. Distinctions were much less 
marked among the people, and in many instances the officials associated 
familiarly with men they would have hesitated to recognize on the other 
side of the Ural Mountains." 

« It sounds odd enough to talk about Siberia as a land of freedom," 
said Fred, u when we've always been accustomed to associate the name of 
the country with imprisonment." 

Just then the steamer stopped at one of its regular landings ; and as 
she was to be there for an hour or more, the party took a stroll on shore. 



CHILDREN'S AMUSEMENTS. 



337 



There were only two or three houses at the landing-place, the town which 
it supplied lying a little back from the river, upon ground higher than the 
bank. 

It happened to be a holiday, and there was quite a group at the land- 
ing-place. The peasants were in their best clothes, and several games were 
in progress. Frank and Fred hardly knew which way to turn, as there 
were several things they wished to see all at once. 

Some girls were in a circle, with their hands joined ; they were sing- 
ing songs which had a good deal of melody, and the whole performance 




GIRLS PLAYING AT SKAKIET. 



reminded the youths of the " round-a-ring-a-rosy " game of their native 
land. Close by this group were two girls playing a game which was 
called shaHet in Eussian. They had a board balanced on its centre, and a 
girl stood on each end of the board. The maidens jumped alternately into 
the air, and the descent of one caused her companion to go higher each 
time." Mr. liegeman said it was a favorite amusement in the Eussian vil- 
lages. It required a little practice, as the successful performer must main- 
tain a perfectly upright position. Two girls who are skilled at the game 
will sometimes keep up this motion for fifteen or twenty minutes without 
apparent fatigue. 

Among the men there were wrestling-matches, which were conducted 
with a good deal of vigor. Frank observed that some of the wrestlers re- 
ceived very ugly falls, but did not seem to mind them in the least. The 
Russian peasantry are capable of rough handling. They are accustomed 




22 



338 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

to it all their lives, and not at all disturbed by anything of an ordinary 
character. They resemble the lower classes of the English populace more 
than any other people. 

The women are more refined than the men in their amusements. Ring- 
ing and dancing are very popular among them, and they have quite a vari- 
ety of dances. A favorite dance is in couples, where they spin round 
and round, until one of the pair drops or sits down from sheer fatigue. 

As our friends strolled near the river-bank they came upon a group of 




A VILLAGE FESTIVAL. 



women engaged in one of these dances. Three or four of the by-standers 
were singing, and thus supplied the music ; two women stood facing each 
other in the centre of the group, each with her hands resting on her hips. 
One of the singers raised her hands, and at this signal the whirling began. 

When this couple was tired out another came forward, and so the dance 
was kept up. Fred thought the dress of the dancers was not particularly 



RUSSIAN COURTSHIPS. 



339 



graceful, as each woman wore stout boots instead of shoes. They had al- 
ready observed that the old-fashioned boot is not by any means confined 
to the sterner sex among the Russian peasantry. 

Some of the women wore flowers in their hair, but the majority of the 
heads were covered with handkerchiefs. Doctor Bronson explained to the 
youths that a woman may wear her hair loosely while she is unmarried, 
but when she becomes a wife she wraps it in a kerchief, or encloses it in 
a net. 

Naturally this explanation by the Doctor led to a question about mar- 
riage customs in Russia. 

" Courtship in Russia is not like the same business in America," re- 
marked the Doctor, in reply to the query. " A good deal of it has to be 
done by proxy." 

"How is that ?" 

" When a young fellow wishes to take a wife, he looks around among 
the young women of his village and selects the one that best pleases him. 
Then he sends a messenger — his mother, or some other woman of middle 
age — to the parents of the girl, with authority to begin negotiations. Jf 
they can agree upon the terms of the proposed marriage, the amount of 
dowry the bride is to receive, and other matters bearing on the subject, the 
swain receives a favorable report. Sometimes the parents of the girl are 
opposed to the match, and will not listen to any proposals ; in such case 
the affair ends at once, the girl herself having nothing to say in the matter. 
Quite likely she may never know anything about it. 

" The whole business is arranged between the elders who have it in 
charge. The custom seems to be largely Oriental in its character, though 
partaking somewhat of the marriage ways of France and other European 
countries. 

" Supposing the negotiations to have resulted favorably, the young 
man is notified when he can begin his visits to the house of his beloved. 
He dresses in his best clothes (very much as an American youth would do 
under similar circumstances), and calls at the appointed time. He carries 
a present of some kind — and the long-established custom requires that he 
must never make a call during his courtship without bringing a present. 
One of the gifts must be a shawl." 

" In that case," said Fred, " the young men are probably favorable to 
short courtships, while the girls would be in no hurry. If every visit 
must bring a present, a long courtship would heap up a fine lot of gifts." 

" That is quite true," Doctor Bronson replied, " and instances have 
been known where the match was broken off after the patience and pocket 



UO THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

of the suitor were exhausted. But he has a right to demand a return of 
his presents in such an event." 

" And, as has happened in similar cases in America," Frank retorted, 
" he does not always get them." 

" Quite true," said the Doctor, with a smile ; " but the family playing 
such a trick would not find other suitors very speedily. Human nature is 
the same in all countries, and even the young man in love is shy of being 
defrauded. 

" But we will suppose everything has gone favorably, the Doctor con- 
tinued, "and the suitor has been accepted. As a matter of fact, Kussian 




RUSSIAN PEASANT WOMEN. 



courtships are short, only a month or two, and possibly for the reason yon 
jested A day is fixed for the betrothal, and the ceremony takes place 
in the presence of the families of both the parties to the engagement. 
The betrothal is virtually a marriage ceremony, as it binds the two so 
firmly together that only the most serious reasons can separate them 
The betrothal ceremony is at the house of the bride's parents, and is fol- 
lowed in due course by the wedding, which takes place in church. _ 

« Custom requires that the bride shall supply a certain quantity ot 



RUSSIAN WEDDINGS. 



341 



linen and other household property, while the husband provides the dwell- 
ing and certain specified articles of furniture. Between them they should 
be able to set up house-keeping immediately, but there are probably many 
cases where they cannot do so. Among well-to-do people the bride pro- 
vides a dozen shirts, a dressing-gown, and a pair of slippers for her hus- 
band ; she is supposed to spin the flax, weave it into cloth, and make the 
shirts ; but, as a matter of fact, she buys the material, and very often gets 
the garments ready-made. 

" For a day or two before the wedding, all the dowry of the bride is 
exhibited in a room set apart for the purpose ; a priest blesses it with holy 
water, and friends call to gaze upon the matrimonial trophies. Among 
the middle and upper classes the bridegroom gives a dinner to his bache- 
lor friends, as in some other countries, the evening before the wedding ; 
the bride on the same evening assembles her companions, who join in 
singing farewell to her. The bridegroom sends them a liberal supply of 
candy, cakes, bonbons, and the like, and they indulge in quite a festivity. 

" Among the peasants the companions of the bride accompany her to 
the bath on the evening before the wedding, and both going and returning 
she is expected to weep bitterly and loudly. An English lady tells how 
she heard a Kussian girl, who was about to be married, giving vent to the 
wildest grief, while her companions were trying to cheer her by singing. 
The lady felt very sorry for the poor maiden, and rejoiced when she 
passed out of hearing. 

"A little later in the evening the lady went with a friend to call at 
the bride's cottage, and entered quite unannounced. The bride was sup- 
ping heartily, her face full of expressions of joy; the Englishwoman was 
startled and still more surprised when the girl asked, 

" ' Didn't I do it well V 

" It then came out that the weeping was all a farce, though there may 
be cases where it is not so. 

"On the day of the wedding the bride and groom do not see each 
other until they meet in church. After the ceremony the whole party 
goes to the house of the bride's parents, where a reception is held in honor 
of the event. When it is over, the young couple go to their own home, if 
they have one ; the next morning all the parents and relatives go and take 
coffee with the newly married ; then there are dinner-parties at the houses 
of both pairs of parents ; other parties and dinners follow, and sometimes 
the feasting is kept up for a week or more. It is a trying ordeal for all 
concerned, and there is general rejoicing when the festivities are over. 

" Among the peasantry it is the custom, at least in some parts of Ens- 



U2 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

sia for the bride to present a whip to her husband the day after the wed- 
ding. This whip is Irarig at the head of the bed, and, if report is trne, it 
is not unfrequently used." . 

« I remember seeing a whip hanging at the head of the bed m some of 
the houses we have visited," said Fred, "and wondered what it was there 
for " 

'« The curious thing about the matter is," the Doctor continued, " that, 
a good many wives expect the whip to be used. The same lady I just re- 




MAKING CALLS AFTER A WKDDING. 

ferred to says that one of her nurse-maids left her to be married A short 
time after the marriage she went to the nachalmk, or justice of the peace, 
of her village, and complained that her husband did not love her. The 
nachalmk asked how she knew it, and the young wife replied, _ 

« < Because he has not whipped me once since we were married ! 

"Among the peasantry the married couple goes to the house of the 
owner of the estate to receive his blessing. He comes to the door and 
welcomes them as they bow in front of him till then- foreheads nearly 

touch the ground." . , 

The steamer's whistle recalled the party, and in a little while they 
were again on their voyage. Mr. Hegeman resumed the story of his r.de 
through Siberia as soon as all were seated in their accustomed places. 



WEDDING FORMALITIES. 



343 




344 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

"I think we were at Kertchinsk," said lie, " when we turned aside to 
the mines where the exiles were formerly employed." 

" Yes," replied Fred ; " yon had just arrived at the house of the friend 
of your companion, and accepted an invitation to remain for dinner." 

'"That was it, exactly," responded the traveller. "We had an excel- 
lent dinner, and soon after it was over we continued on our journey. We 
sent back the tarantasse which .we had hired from the station-master, and 
obtained a larger and better one from our host. 

" Two nights and the intervening day brought us, without any incident 
worth remembering, to Chetah, the capital of the province of the trans-Bai- 
kal It is a town of four or five thousand inhabitants, and stands on the 
Ingodali Eiver, a tributary of the Shilka. Below this point the river is 
navigable for boats and rafts, and it was here that General Mouravieff 
organized the expedition for the conquest of the Amoor. A considerable 
garrison is kept here, and the town has an important place in the history 
of Siberian exile. Many of the houses are large and well built. The offi- 
cers of the garrison have a club, and ordinarily the society includes a good 
many ladies from European Russia. 

" I stopped two or three days at Chetah, and my courier friend con- 
tinued his journey. Finding a young officer who was going to Kiachta, 
on the frontier of Mongolia, I arranged to accompany him, and one even- 
ing we started. I think I have before told you that a Siberian journey 
nearly always begins in the evening, and is continued day and night till its 
close.' The day is passed in making calls, and usually winds up with a din- 
ner at somebody's house. After dinner, and generally pretty late m the 
evening, the last call is made, the last farewells are spoken, and you bun- 
dle into your vehicle and are off. 

"From Chetah the road steadily climbed the hills, and my companion 
said we would soon be over the ridge of the Yablonnoi Mountains, and m 
the basin of the Arctic Ocean. From the eastern slope of the mountains 
the rivers flow through the Amoor to the Pacific Ocean ; from the western 
slope they run into Lake Baikal, and thence through the outlet of that lake 
to the great frozen sea that surrounds the pole. The cold rapidly in- 
creased, and when we crossed the ridge it seemed that the thermometer 
went ten decrees lower in almost as many minutes. 

" The country through which we passed was flat or slightly undulating, 
with occasional stretches of hills of no great height. There are few Rus- 
sian villages, the principal inhabitants being Bouriats, a people of Mongol 
origin, who are said to have been conquered by the hordes of Genghis 
Khan five hundred years ago. They made considerable resistance to the 



A BOUEIAT VILLAGE 



345 




THE MOUNTAINS NEAR CHETAH. 

Eussians when tbe latter came to occupy the country, but ever since their 
subjugation they have been entirely peaceful. 

" Some of the Bouriats live in houses like those of the Eussians, but 
the most of them cling to the yourt or kibitka, which is the peculiar habi- 
tation of the nomad tribes of Central Asia. Even when settled in villages 
they prefer the yourt to the house, though the latter is far more comfort- 
able than the former.- 

" We changed horses in a Bouriat village, where a single Eussian lived 
and filled the office of station-master, justice of the peace, governor, secre- 
tary, and garrison. I took the opportunity of visiting a yourt, which 
proved to be a circular tent about eighteen feet in diameter, and rounded 
at the top like a dome. There was a frame of light trellis-work covered 
with thick felt made from horse-hair ; at the highest point of the dome 
the yourt has an open space which allows the smoke to pass out, at least in 
theory. A small tire is kept burning in the middle of the floor during the 
day, and covered up at night ; the door is made of a piece of felt of double 
or treble thickness, and hanging like a curtain over the entrance. 

" I had not been two minutes inside the yourt before my eyes began to 
smart severely, and I wanted to get into the open air. The pain was caused 



346 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 

by the smoke, which was everywhere through the interior of the tent, hut 
did not seem to inconvenience the Bouriats in the least. I noticed, how- 
ever, that nearly all their eyes were red, and apparently inflamed, and 
doubtless this condition was caused by the smoke. 

« A family of several persons finds plenty of space in one of these 
tents, as thev can be very closely packed. The furniture is principally 
mats and skins, which are seats by day and beds by night. They have 
pots and kettles for cooking, a few jars and bottles for holding liquids, 
sacks for grain, half a dozen pieces of crockery, and little else. A wooden 




7, ■- 



A BOURIAT VILLAGE. 



box contains the valuable clothing of the family, and this box, with two or 
three bags and bundles, forms the entire wardrobe accommodation. 

"My attention was drawn to a small altar on which were tmy cups 
containing oil, grain, and other offerings to the Deities. The Bouriats are 
Buddhists, and have their lamas to give them the needed spiritual advice. 
The lamas are numerous, and frequently engage in the same callings as 
their followers. By the rules of their religion they are not permitted to 
kill anything, however small or insignificant. Whenever a lama has a 



BOUEIAT DRIVERS. 



347 



sheep to slaughter he gets everything ready, and then passes the knife to 
his secular neighbor. 

" The Bouriats are not inclined to agriculture, but devote most of their 
energy to sheep-raising. They have large flocks, and sell considerable wool 
to the Russians. Their dress is a mixture of Russian and Chinese, the 
conveniences of each being adopted, and the inconveniences rejected. 
They decorate their waist-belts with steel or brass, shave the head, and 
wear the hair in a queue, but are not careful to keep it closely trimmed. 
With their trousers of Chinese 
cut, and sheepskin coats of Rus- 
sian model, they presented an odd 
appearance. The women are not 
generally good-looking, but there 
is now and then a girl whose face 
is really beautiful. 

" We were called from the 
yourt with the announcement 
' Loshacli gotovey' ("Horses are 
ready"), and were soon dashing 
away from the village. Our driv- 
er was a Bouriat ; he handled the 
reins with skill and the whip with 
vigor, and in every way was the 
equal of his Russian competitor. 
For two or three hundred miles 
most of our drivers were Bouriats, 
and certainly they deserve praise 
for their equestrian abilities. At 
many of our stopping - places the 
station-masters were the only Rus- 
sians, all the employes being Bou- 
riats." 

Frank asked whether the Bou- 
riats had adopted any of the Russian manners and customs, or if they 
still adhered to their Mongol ways. 

" They stick to their customs very tenaciously," w T as the reply, " and 
as for their religion, the Russian priests have made no progress in con- 
verting them to the faith of the Empire. Two English missionaries lived 
for many years at Selenginsk, which is in the centre of the Bouriat coun- 
try, and though they labored earnestly they never gained a single convert. 




A WANDERING PRIEST. 



348 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

"Buddhism is of comparatively recent origin among these people. 
Two hundred years ago they were Shamans, or worshippers of good and 
evil spirits, principally the latter, and in this respect differed little from 
the wild tribes of the Amoor and of Northern Siberia. About the end 
of the seventeenth century the Bonriats sent a mission to Lassa, the re- 
ligious capital of Thibet, and a stronghold of Buddhism. The members of 
this mission were appointed lamas, and brought back the paraphernalia 
and ritual of the new faith ; they announced it to the people, and in an as- 
tonishingly short time the whole tribe was converted, and has remained 
firm ever since. 

"We spent a day at Verckne Udinsk, which has a church nearly two 
hundred years old, and built with immensely thick walls to resist the 
earthquakes which are not uncommon there. In fact there was an earth- 
quake shock while we were on the road, but the motion of the carriage 
prevented our feeling it. We only knew what had happened when we 
reached the station and found the master and his employes in a state of 
alarm. , 

"The Gostinna Dvor contained a curious mixture of Kussians and 
Bouriats in about equal numbers, but there was nothing remarkable in the 
goods offered for sale. An interesting building was the jail, which seemed 
unnecessarily large for the population of the place. A gentleman who 
knew my companion told us that the jail was rapidly filling up for win- 
ter. 'We have,' said he, ' a great number of what you call tramps in 
America ; in summer they wander through the country, and live by beg- 
ging and stealing, but in winter they come to the jails to be lodged and 
fed until warm weather comes again. After spending the cold season 
here they leave in the spring— as the trees do.' 

" He further told us there was then in the jail and awaiting trial a 
man who confessed to the murder of no less than seventeen people. He 
had been a robber, and when in danger of discovery had not hesitated to 
kill those whom he plundered. On one occasion he had killed four per- 
sons in a single family, leaving only a child too young to testify against 
him." 

Fred wished to know if robberies were common in Siberia. 

" Less so than you might suppose," was the reply, " when there is such 
a proportion of criminals among the population. They are mostly com- 
mitted in summer, as that is the season when the tramps are in motion. 
The principal victims are merchants, who often carry money in large 
amounts ; officers are rarely attacked, as they usually have only the money 
needed for their travelling expenses, and are more likely than the mer- 



A PERILOUS JOURNEY. 



349 



chants to be provided with fire-arms and skilled in their use. My com- 
panion and myself each had a revolver, and kept it where it could be con- 
veniently seized in case of trouble. We never had any occasion to use 
our weapons, and I will say here that not once in all my journey through 
Siberia was I molested by highwaymen. 

" When we left Verckne IJdinsk we crossed the Selenga, a river which 
rises in Chinese Tartary, and after a long and tortuous course falls into 
Lake Baikal, whence its waters reach the Arctic Ocean. There was no 




CROSSING THE SELENGA. 



bridge, and we traversed the stream on a ferry. The river was full of 
floating ice, and the huge cakes ground very unpleasantly against the sides 
of the craft which bore ourselves and our tarantasse. The river was on 
the point of freezing; there was just a possibility that it would close 
while we were crossing, and keep us imprisoned until such time as the ice 
was thick enough to bear us safely. As this would involve a detention of 
several hours where the accommodations were wretched, the outlook was 
not at all pleasant. 

" All's well that ends well ; we landed on a sand-bank on the other 
side, and after a little delay the boatmen succeeded in getting our carriage 
on shore without accident. About six miles from the river the road divid- 



350 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

ed one branch going to Irkutsk and the other to Kiachta, our destina- 
tion Away we sped up the valley of the Selenga. The road was not the 
best in the world, and we were shaken a good deal as the drivers urged 

their teams furiously. 

« On this road we met long trains of carts laden with tea. Each cart 
has a load of from six to ten chests, according to the condition of the 
roads, and is drawn by a single horse. There is a driver to every four or 
five carts, and he has a bed on the top of one of his loads. The drivers 
were nearly always asleep, and their horses showed a good deal of intelli- 
gence in turning out whenever they heard the sound of our bells. If they 
did not turn out they received a reminder from the whip of our driver, 
who always had an extra stroke for the slumbering teamster." 

Frank asked where these carts were going. 

"They were going to Irkutsk," said Mr. liegeman, " and from that 
citv the most of the tea they carried was destined for European Russia." 

"Oh now I remember," said Frank ; "Doctor Bronson told us about 
the tea importation from China, and how it all came overland down to 
1860 with the exception of one cargo annually." 

"Many persons still prefer the tea brought by land, as the herb is 
thought to be injured by passing over salt-water, although packed m air- 
tight chests. At the time I speak of, not less than a million chests of tea 
were taken annually from Kiachta to European Eussia, a distance of four 
thousand miles. To Kiachta it came on the backs of camels from the tea 
districts of China, so that camels and horses in great number were em- 
ployed in the transport of tea. , 
"Each chest is covered with rawhide, which protects it from rain and 
snow, and from the rough handling and shaking it receives. Across Siberia 
it is carried in carts in summer, and on sledges in winter. The horse- 
caravans travel sixteen hours out of every twenty-four, and the teams 
rarely go faster than a walk. The teams are the property of peasants, 
who make contracts for the work at a certain price per chest. 

« For the latter part of the way the road was hilly and sandy, and our 
progress was slow. About nine in the evening we reached Kiachta ; and 
as there is no hotel there, we went to the police-master to obtain lodg- 
ings." 

" Not at the police-station, I hope," said Fred. 

» Not at all " Mr Hegeman responded, with a slight laugh. In many 
towns of Siberia there is not sufficient travel to make hotel-keeping profit- 
able, and consequently there are no hotels. By custom and law the inhabi- 
tants are required to receive travellers who may require accommodation, 



LODGED BY THE POLICE. 



351 



and all such lodging-places are registered with the police. For this reason 
we went to the police-master and received the name of the citizen who 
was to be honored with our company. 

"It was about ten o'clock when we reached the house, accompanied by 
two soldiers who brought the mandate of the office and showed us the 
way. Everybody was in bed, and it required a good deal of knocking 
to rouse the servants and afterwards the master, who came to the door 
in his night-shirt. lie stood shivering while our explanations were made, 




FINDING LODGINGS AT KIACHTA. 



and did not seem to realize his ludicrous appearance until we were ad- 
mitted to the mansion and our baggage was landed." 

Frank inquired if it was often necessary in Siberian towns to obtain 
lodgings in this way, and whether they were paid for ? 

" It was only the lateness of the hour and the fact that neither of us 
had ever been in Kiachta that compelled us to apply to the police-master. 
Travellers are unfrequent in Siberia, and the few strangers that go through 
the country are cordially welcomed. Officers are entertained by their 
fellow - officers, and merchants by their fellow -merchants. Lodgings ob- 



352 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



tained as we obtained ours are paid for exactly as they would be at a 
hotel. We were invited to move the next day, but were so well lodged 
that we chose to stay where we were. 

« The morning after our arrival we delivered our letters of introduc- 
tion and made numerous calls, the latter including a visit to the Sargoot- 
chay, or Chinese Governor of Mai-mai-chin. Which of you has read 
enough about the relations between China and Russia to tell me about 
these two places— Kiachta and Mai-inai-chin,P 

Frank was the first to speak, which he did as follows : 
"Kiachta and Mai-mai-chin were built in 1727 for the purposes of 
commerce— Mai-mai-chin meaning in Chinese place of trade.' The towns 
are about a hundred yards apart, one thoroughly Russian and the other as 
thoroughly Chinese. From 1727 to 1860 .nearly all the trade between the 
two empires was conducted at this point, and the merchants who managed 
the business made great fortunes. Women were forbidden to live in Mai- 
mai-chin, and down to the present day the Chinese merchants keep their 
families at Urga, two or three hundred miles to the south. The same 





CHINESE CASH FROM MAI-MAI-CHIN. 



restriction was at first made upon the Russian merchants at Kiachta, but 
after a time the rule was relaxed and has never since been enforced. Until 
quite recently, strangers were forbidden to stay over-night in Kiachta, but 
were lodged at Troitskosavsk, about two miles away." 

" I should say right here," remarked Mr. Hegeman, " that my friend 
and myself were really lodged in Troitskosavsk and not in Kiachta. The 
latter place had about a thousand inhabitants, and the former four or five 
thousand. At a distance only Kiachta is mentioned, just as a man may 
say he lives in London or New York when his home is really in a suburb 
of one of those cities." 

"I have read somewhere," said Fred, "that the Russian and Chinese 



GETTING AROUND THE LAW. 



353 



Governments stipulated in their treaty that the products and manufactures 
of each country should be exchanged for those of the other, and no money 
was to be used in their commercial transactions." 

" That was the stipulation," said Doctor Bronson, " but the merchants 
soon found a way to evade it." 

" How was that ?" 

" Tne balance of trade was greatly in favor of China, as the Russians 
wanted great quantities of tea, while they did not produce or manufacture 




ARTICLES OF RUSSIAN MANUFACTURE. 



many things that the Chinese could use. Furs were the principal articles 
of Russian production that the Chinese would take, but their demand for 
them was not enough to meet the Russian demand for tea. The treaty 
forbade the use of gold or silver coin under severe penalties, but some- 
body discovered that it did not prohibit articles of Russian manufacture 
being made of those metals. So they used to melt gold and silver coin, 
and cast them into Chinese idols which were sold by weight. The Gov- 
ernment prohibited the melting of its coin, and then the merchants bought 
their crude gold and silver directly from the miners. With this source 
of supply always at hand they were able to supply 'articles of Russian 
manufacture' without difficulty. As late as 1860 every visitor to Kiachta 
was searched, to make sure that he had no gold coin in his possession." 

23 



354 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

GENERAL ASPECTS OF MAI-MAI-CHIN. DINNER WITH A CHINESE GO ™K- 
A THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE. LAKE BAIKAL: ITS REMARKABLE FEATURES. 
_i WONDERFUL RIDE.-IRKUTSK.-ITS POPULATION, SIZE, AND PECULIARITIES. 
-SOCI VL GAYETIES. — PREPARATIONS FOR A LONG SLEIGH-RIDE. LIST OF GAR- 
MENTS. — VARIETIES OF SLEIGHS. — FAREWELL TO IRKUTSK -- SLE1G ^J^ T ^ C F I ; 
DENTS -FOOD ON THE ROAD -SIBERIAN MAILS. ADVANTAGES OF WINTER 
TRAVELLING. — SLEIGHING ON BARE GROUND. A SNOWLESS REGION. KRAS- 
NOYARSK. 

YOU have been in China, I believe," said Mr. Hegeman, during the 
pause that followed the story of how the Russian and Chinese mer- 
chants circumvented the stipulations of the treaty. _ 

« Oh yes," Frank responded. " We were at Peking, which is, I think, 
cnly eight hundred miles, from Kiachta. We went from Peking to the 




SCENE IN A CHINESE TEMPLE. 



Great Wall of China, so that we were less than seven hundred miles from 
the point where you called on the Sargootchay. You can learn about our 
journey in 'The Boy Travellers in Japan and China.'" 



THE CLEANEST TOWN IN CHINA. 



355 



" I shall read the book with great pleasure," was the reply, " now that 
I have met the youths whose travels are described in it. As you have 
seen the Chinese at home, and know their manners and customs, I won't 
take your time by telling you what I saw in Mai-mai-chin, which is just 
like any other Chinese city in nearly every respect. 

" I may add that it is said to be the cleanest town in all China. It is 
only half a mile square, carefully laid out, and its streets are swept daily. 




THEATRE AT MAI-MAI-CHIN. 



Only the merchants and their employes, with a small garrison of soldiers, 
are allowed to live there, and consequently there is no poor population 
such as you always find in the other cities of the Empire." 

" That must be a great relief," Fred remarked. " Wherever we went 
in China we saw so much degradation and suffering that it destroyed a 
great deal of the pleasure of the journey." 

"I didn't see a beggar in Mai-mai-chin," continued Mr. Hegeman, 



356 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



« nor anybody who looked like one. There were plenty of laborers em- 
ployed in handling the tea and other merchandise, but they all appeared to 
be well cared for. Outside the town there was quite a camp of Mongo- 
lians with their camel-trains, which are employed in the transportation of 
goods across the great desert of Gobi. 

" The Sargootchay invited me to dinner, and I went there with the 
Governor of Kiachta and some of his officers. The Sargootchay was 
polite, and we tried to talk, but had a good deal of difficulty in doing so 
on account of the numerous translations. 

" What I thought in my own language I said in French to one of my 
Eussian friends. He spoke in Eussian to his Eussian-Mongol interpreter, 
who spoke in Mongol to the Mongol-Chinese interpreter of the Sargoo- 
tchay. Eemarks and responses thus had to pass through four tongues to 
reach their destination. 

" The dinner was probably like what you had at Peking or Canton, and 

so I will not take the time to de- 
scribe it. After dinner we went to 
the theatre, where we sat under a 
canopy and witnessed a performance 
which included, among other things, 
a procession of fictitious wild beasts. 
That they were very fictitious was 
shown by the accident of the tiger's 
mask falling off and revealing the 
head of an astonished man. 

" The thermometer was below 
the freezing-point, and as the the- 
atre was in the open air, I was very 
glad that the performance was short. 
« From Kiachta I returned to 
Yerckne Udinsk, and then proceeded to Irkutsk by way of Lake Baikal. 
This lake is said to be the largest body of fresh water in Asia. It is four 
hundred miles long by about fifty broad, and is fourteen hundred feet 
above the level of the sea. The quantity of water flowing into it is said 
to be ten times as much as passes from it by its outlet, the Angara Eiver. 
What becomes of the other nine-tenths is a mystery that has puzzled many 
scientific men ; none of them have been able to establish a theory which 
the others have not completely upset. 

" I crossed the lake in a steamboat, and during the voyage listened ea- 
gerly to the description of the winter passage which is made on the ice. 




A WONDERFUL RIDE. 357 

I will give it as nearly as I can remember in the words of my informant, 
a gentleman who filled the position of Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion in Eastern Siberia : 

The lake does not freeze over until quite late in the autumn, 
and when it does the whole surface is congealed in a single night. In 
a few days the ice is from three to six feet thick, and perfectfy trans- 



A NATURAL ARCH ON LAKE BAIKAL. 



parent. The first time I crossed it was from the western to the eastern 
shore. The former is mountainous, while the latter is low and fiat. As 
we began our ride the land on the other side was quite invisible, and 
it seemed to me very much like setting out in a sleigh for a voyage 
from Queenstown to New York. When I leaned over and looked down- 
ward, it was like gazing into the depths of the ocean. It was not until 
I alighted and stood on the firm ice that I could dispel the illusion that 
we^ were gliding over the unfrozen surface of the lake, as the natives 
believe its guardian spirit walks upon the waters without sinking beneath 
them. 



358 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



" ' At night every star was reflected as in a mirror, and I saw the heav- 
ens above me, beneath me, and all around. As the rising moon lighted up 
the faint horizon of ice and sky, I could half believe I had left the world 





CAVERNS ON LAKE BAIKAL. 



behind me, and was moving away through the myriads of stars towards 
the centre of another solar system distinct from our own.' 

"The natives have many superstitions concerning the Baikal," Mr. 
Liegeman continued. "In their language it is the 'Holy Sea,' and they 
consider it sacrilege to call it a lake. It is very deep, soundings of two 
thousand feet having been made without finding bottom. It is more like 
a sea than a lake in some of its peculiarities ; gulls and other ocean birds 
fly over it, and it is the only body of fresh water on the globe where the 
seal abounds. There are banks of coral in some parts of it, in spite of the 
hMi northern latitude and the constant coldness of the water. The na- 



SHORES OF LAKE BAIKAL. 



tives say that nobody is ever lost in the lake ; any one drowned in its wa- 
ters is thrown up on the shores." 

"It must be a long drive from one side of the lake to the other," one 
of the youths remarked. 

" It is, indeed," was the reply. " Formerly they had a station on the 
ice in the middle of the lake, which was removed at the approach of 
spring. One season the ice broke up unexpectedly, and the entire station, 
with all its men and horses, was swallowed up. Since that time no station 
has been kept there in winter, and the entire journey across, about fifty-five 
miles, is made without a change. The horses are carefully selected, and 
as the road is magnificent they go at great speed, stopping only two or 
three times for a rest of a few minutes. 

" The western shore is mountainous, and in places very picturesque. 
There are steep cliffs that come down to the water, and in some of these 




PART OF IRKUTSK. 



cliffs you find caverns and arches which recall the pictured shores of Lake 
Superior. Earthquakes are not unfrequent, and many persons believe that 
the lake occupies the crater of an extinct volcano whose internal fires are 
determined to keep themselves in remembrance. A village on the shore 
of the lake was destroyed by one of the shocks. Half of it was carried 



360 THE BOY TRAVELLERS 




One of the youths remarked 
considerable size and importance. 



IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

below the level of the water, and the 
other half thrown up to a considera- 
ble height above its former position. 

"So much for this remarkable 
lake. From the western shore to Ir- 
kutsk (about forty miles) the road 
follows near the bank of the Angara, 
wmich is very swift. The river does 
not freeze until after the lake has 
been covered with ice, and for two 
or three miles below the point where 
it emerges from the lake it never 
freezes even in the severest winters. 
There is a great rock in the stream 
at this point which is regarded with 
superstition by the aboriginal inhab- 
itants. They perform religious cere- 
monies when passing it, and formerly 
it was a place of sacrifice. Hundreds, 
if not thousands, of men, women, and 
children have been tossed from this 
rock to be drowned in the swift cur- 
rent flowing below it. 

" It had been my original plan to 
reach Irkutsk on wheels, and remain 
there till the winter roads were form- 
ed, so' that I could continue from that 
city in a sleigh. A snow-storm began 
an hour before I reached the city, and 
indicated that I had made a very good 
calculation ; it cleared up soon after 
we passed the gate-way, and for sev- 
eral days thereafter the weather was 
delightful. My reception was most 
cordial ; Americans were rare visitors 
in the capital of Eastern Siberia, and 
I was the first that many of the peo- 
ple had ever seen." 
that he believed Irkutsk was a city of 



LIFE AT IRKUTSK. 



361 



" It is the largest city in Siberia," said Mr. Hegeman, " and has a pop- 
ulation of about thirty-five thousand. The Governor-general of Eastern 
Siberia lives there. He has many officers attached to his staff. There are 
many wealthy citizens. The houses are large, well built, and furnished, 
and the style of living is liberal. 

" The winter opens with a long list of balls, parties, dinners, concerts, 
and other festivities, which are kept up until the coming of the Lenten 
season. Every family keeps open house through the winter, and it is 
customary to drop in whenever one chooses, and take tea at eight o'clock. 
There is no formality about the matter. One of the ladies of the house 
presides at the samovar, and the others of the party are scattered around 
the parlors wherever it is most convenient or agreeable to be. My recol- 
lections of Irkutsk are of the most pleasant sort, and I greatly regret the 
place is so far away that one cannot easily revisit it. 

" Since I was there Irkutsk has suffered by a fire that destroyed more 
than half the buildings, and caused a vast amount of distress. For a time 
it was thought the city would not be rebuilt, but I hear that it is being- 
restored very rapidly, and in a few years will be more attractive than it 
was before the conflagration."* 

" When the winter roads were reported in a condition for travelling I 
began my preparations for leaving Irkutsk on a sleigh-ride of thirty-six 
hundred miles. The thermometer went to twenty degrees below zero 
soon after the first fall of snow, and my Russian friends told me to pre- 
pare for forty below. Under their advice I employed a tailor who knew 
his business, and when his work was completed my room resembled a 
clothing store of modest proportions. Here is what I bought : A sheep- 
skin coat with the wool inside ; the garment fell below my knees, was 
without a collar, and buttoned tight around the neck. It was intended 
for wearing outside my ordinary suit of clothing. Outside of this was 
what the Russians call a dehar; it was made of deerskin, with the hair 
outward, and as I walked it swept the floor like a lady's ball-dress. The 
sleeves were six inches longer than my arms, and very inconvenient when 



* The fire occurred on July 6th and 7th, 1879. About thirty -six hundred buildings 
were destroyed, of which one hundred and more were of stone or brick, and the rest of 
wood. Six Russian churches were burned, and also two synagogues, one Catholic and 
one Lutheran church; five bazaars, the meat-market, museum, club-house, custom-house, 
and other public edifices were consumed. The loss was about fifteen millions of dollars, 
and many persons formerly in good circumstances were rendered penniless. The wealthy 
inhabitants who escaped loss or ruin gave liberally to relieve the general distress, and the 
Government made substantial provision for the unemployed. 



362 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

I wished to pick up any small article ; the collar was a foot wide, and 
when turned up and brought around in front completely concealed my 
head. Then I had a fur cap, circular in shape and with lappets for cover- 




ing 



nose 



DRESSED FOR THE ROAD. 

the ears. A lady made, from a piece of sable-skin, a mitten for my 



For my foot-gear I discarded my leather hoots. Outside of my or- 
dinary socks I had a pair of squirrel-skin socks with the fur inside, sheep- 
skin stockings with the wool inside and reaching to the knee, and outside 
of these were deer-skin boots, with the hair outside, and reaching up near- 
ly to the junction of my lower limbs. Added to these garments for ex- 
cluding cold was a robe of sheepskins with the wool on, and backed with 



UPSET INTO THE SNOW. 



363 



heavy cloth. It was seven feet square, and something like a dozen skins 
were required for making it. At one end it was shaped into a sort of bag 
for receiving the feet." 

Fred suggested that such a costume must be very inconvenient for 
walking, and it must be no easy matter to enter and leave a sleigh when 
thus wrapped for a cold night. 

" You are quite right," said Mr. Hegeman ; " it is the work of a minute 
or more to turn over at night and change one's position, excepting, of 
course, when the sleigh turns over first." 

" Did that happen often ?" 

"Fortunately not," was the reply, " but the few experiences of this 
kind that I had were quite sufficient. One night we were upset while go- 




A VASHOK. 



ing at full speed down a hill. I was asleep at the time, and without the 
least warning found myself in a mass of baggage, hay, furs, and snow. My 
first thought was that an earthquake had hit us, and it was several seconds 
before I realized what had happened. One of the horses broke loose and 
ran away ; the driver mounted the other and went after the fugitive, and 
for half an hour my companion and myself were left alone with the sleigh 
and its contents. We kept ourselves busy trying to get things to rights, 
and as we had only the light of the stars to work by, we did not get along 
rapidly. 

"We found one of the shafts and also a fender broken ; otherwise the 
vehicle had suffered no material damage. But I'm getting ahead of the 
story. 



364 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



" I arranged to leave Irkutsk with some Russian friends who were go- 
ing to Krasnoyarsk, the next provincial capital. After getting my furs, 
the next thing was to buy a sleigh, and again I took advice. 

" There is a sleigh called a vashok, which is much like a small omni- 
bus. It has doors at the side and is very capacious, but it has the disad- 
vantage that you are completely enclosed in it, and can see nothing of the 
country you are passing through. A better vehicle is the kibitka, a sort 
of tarantasse on runners, and suggestive of the American chaise in the ar- 




MY KIBITKA. 



rangernent of its front. There is a hood which can be lowered and fast- 
ened to an apron rising from the wooden box, in which your feet are 
pushed when you enter the vehicle. By day you can see the country and 
enjoy the fresh air, and at night or in storms you close the hood and are 
very well protected from the weather. Ladies and invalids prefer the 
vashok, while healthy men have a decided liking for the kibitka. 

" At the rear of the kibitka there is usually a frame of poles, covered 
with a net of half -inch rope. It is a convenient receptacle for extra 
baggage, and also serves to break the force of horses running against the 
sleigh from behind. 

" The driver of the vashok sits on a seat much like that of an ordinary 
carriage, while on the kibitka he is seated on the boxed front, with his feet 
hanging over the side. The position is one that requires constant vigi- 
lance to prevent falling off. The driver of a vashok might possibly sleep 
a little without danger, but not so the driver of a kibitka. 

" My kibitka was made in European Russia, and was said to have trav- 



STARTING ON A LONG SLEIGH-RIDE. 365 

elled six thousand miles before I owned it. In my possession it went thir- 
ty-six hundred miles, and was certainly good for several thousand more. 
In the whole ride it cost me about five dollars for repairs, principally to 
the shafts and fenders. I gave eighty roubles for the sleigh in Irkutsk, 
and sold it at Nijni Novgorod for ten. 

" The day of my departure was spent in making farewell calls and get- 
ting the baggage in readiness. A Enssian gentleman was to accompany 




FAREWELL TO IRKUTSK. 



me in my sleigh; two ladies, mother and daughter, were to be in another- 
and two servants of the ladies, a man and a maid, were to be in a third.' 
The ladies lived in Irkutsk, and we were to dine at their house and start 
from it. At the appointed time we went there. 

^ " There was a gay party at the dinner, and when it was over the start- 
ing signal was given. All present seated themselves around the parlor, 
and a few moments were given to silent prayer, the travellers asking, and 
the others wishing for them, a safe journey. On rising, all who professed 
the religion of the Eastern Church made the sign of the cross before the 
ikon, or holy picture, and bowed towards it. Every true Eussian scrupu- 



366 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

lously observes this ceremony before starting on a journey, whether by 

^Angara sweeps gracefully aronnd two sides_ of Irkutsk, and 
many of the Souses are on the bank. There is a swinging ferry to con- 
nect the opposite shores : the boat is at the end of a strong cable, anchored 
Tea ly . mile up the stream, and it is swung across through the force 
Ofthe current against its sides. Starting for Moscow it is necessary to 
c o. the river, and I was told there would be some friends at the ferry to 
Z 1 off. We had a good deal of seeing off, as nearly a dozen sleighs 
filled with friends of my companions, were to accompany us to the hist 



station. 



-When we reached the bank it was the close of the day; m fact, dusk 
was about coming on. The ferry-boat was coming from the other shore 
"looked, and sal it was dressed in flags and Chinese lanterns; I looked 
aJam and there were American flags !_f our American flags and one Eus- 
S It was the first time my national standard had ever been hoisted at 

IA 5 Sere was a Inmp in my throat and a film over my eyes as I raised 
ffi y cap and tried to give three cheers. My voice 

the effort was not crowned with distinguished success. It was a_surprrse 
p nned by several of my Eussian friends; when it was ^1 ~ 
Led how one of the ladies had asked me several days befo e how he 
American flag was made, and obtained from me a drawing showing the 
lament of stripes and star, There wasn't an American flag in Ir- 
kutsk, and they had caused these to be made for the occasion 

^hat a hospitable people they must be at Irkutsk! ^ Jank 
Fred echoed the sentiment, and so did Doctor Bronson. Th ktte nd 
it was only those who had been a long time from home who ^appie 
ciate the feeling that comes over a man when he sees his country s flag 

Sefmany expressions of good-will and good wishes for everybody, 
and hand-shakings without number, our sleighs were driven on the feny- 
"at and we swung across the Angara. At the first sta mn we , made a 
mer v party till a late hour; then the friends who came to see us oft re 
53 to Irkutsk, while we travellers took to our sleighs and went com- 
fortably to sleep, while our horses dashed gayly over the smooth roai 

"For the first fifty miles after leaving Irkutsk the road follows the 
bank of the Angara; at times we were close to the dark waters, am neve 
far away from them. A dense fog, or frost-cloud, lay on the liver the 
night wis cold, and the moisture congealed on everything where it could 



TRAVELLING IN THE FROST. 367 

find a resting-place. In the morning every part of my sleigh save the 
running portion was white with hoar-frost. Each little fibre projecting 
from the canvas and matting that formed the cover had been turned to a 
stalactite or a stalagmite, and the head of every nail and bolt resembled 
oxydized silver. Horses were white without regard to their natural color, 
and even the garments of the drivers had come in for their share of the 
congelation. 

"Many times afterwards I had occasion to remark the beauties of 
the work of the frost-king. Houses and fences were cased in ice its 




thickness varying with the condition of the weather. Trees and bushes 
were covered with crystals, and in the morning sunlight they sparkled as 
though coated with diamonds. Sometimes the trees resembled fountains 
caught and frozen when in full action. The pictured delineations of the 
frost had all the varieties of the kaleidoscope, but without its colors. 

" During the night I slept well, in spite of several severe thumps re- 
ceived from sleighs going in the other direction. Eussian sleighs are so 



368 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

built that two of them can run together with considerable force without 
serious consequences. Look at the picture of a vashok and you will un- 
derstand it. 

"The runners are about thirty inches apart, and generally shod with 
iron. On each side there is a fender, which consists of a stout pole fast- 
ened to the forward end of the runner, and extending downward and 
outward to the rear, where it is about two feet from the runner and held 
by strong braces. On a level surface it is just clear of the snow, but 
when the vehicle tips ever so little the fender sustains the weight and pre- 
vents an overturn. When two sleighs moving in opposite directions come 
together, the fenders slip against each other like a pair of fencing foils. 

* " Occasionally the shock of meeting is so severe that the fenders are 
broken. An accident of this kind happened one day to my kibitka, the 
fender on one side being completely torn off. At the next station I sum- 
moned a carpenter and had the missing fender restored and made stronger 
than it was before." 

Frank asked how the traveller's baggage was carried in a Siberian 

sleigh % 

« Baggage is spread over the bottom of the sleigh," said Mr. Hegeman, 
in reply to the question. "Wooden and other solid trunks must be dis- 
carded, and in their place the Eussians have what they call chemidans. 
The chemidan is made of soft leather, very broad and flat, and must not 
be filled with fragile articles. For ladies' bonnets and other crushable 
things there are chemidans which more resemble the packing-case of a 
framed picture than anything else ; they fit easily into the bottom of a 
sleigh or tarantasse, and are strong enough to bear the weight of the trav- 
eller. Baggage is spread over the bottom of the vehicle, and the chinks 
and crevices are filled with straw or hay to make as level a surface as pos- 
sible. Over this is spread a rug of sheepskins. There is no seat as in an 
ordinary vehicle, but you sit there very much as you would on the carpet 
in the corner of a room. Each traveller has a corner of the sleigh, and 
wedges himself into a comfortable position by means of pillows ; he may 
lie down, recline, or sit bolt upright as he chooses." 

« Did you carry your provisions for the road, or could you rely upon 
the stations to furnish them ?" Fred inquired. 

« We could rely upon the stations for the samovar with hot water, and 
for bread and eggs," was the reply, " the same as in the tarantasse journey 
I have already described, but everything else that we wanted had to be 
carried along/ We had our own tea and sugar, likewise our roast-beef, 
cabbage-soup, and pilmania" 



PROVISIONS FOR THE ROAD. 



369 



" What is pilmania?" 

" The best thing imaginable for this kind of travelling. It consists of 
a piece of cooked meat — beef or mutton — about the size of a grape, sea- 
soned and wrapped in a thin covering of dough, and then rolled in flour. 
We had at starting nearly a bushel of these dough-covered meat-balls frozen 
solid and carried in a bag. When we reached a station where we wished 
to dine, sup, or breakfast, we ordered the samovar, and said we had pil- 
mania, before getting out of the sleigh. A pot of water was immediately 




INTERIOR OF A RUSSIAN INN. 

put on the fire and heated to the boiling-point ; then a double handful of 
our pilmania was dropped into the pot, the water was brought to the boil 
again and kept simmering for a few minutes. The result was a rich meat- 
soup which Delmonico could not surpass. 

" The bag containing the frozen pilmania seemed to be filled with wal- 
nuts. Our cabbage-soup was in cakes like small bricks, and our roast- 
beef resembled red granite. We carved the beef with a hatchet, and 

24 



370 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



then thawed out the slices while waiting for the samovar. We had par- 
tridges cooked and frozen. With all the articles I have named for dinner, 
what more could we wish, especially when we had appetites sharpened by 
travelling in the keen, pure air of Siberia ?" 

« Wasn't there danger, while you were in the stations eating your 
meals, that things would be stolen from the sleigh ?" was the next inter- 
rogatory by one of the youths. 

" I had fears of that before starting," was the reply, " but my friends 
assured me that thefts from vehicles on the post-roads were very rare. 

There were always several 
employes of the station 
moving about, or engaged 
in harnessing or unharness- 
ing the teams, so that out- 
siders had little chance to 
pilfer without being dis- 
covered. The native Si- 
berians have a good repu- 
tation for honesty, and the 
majority of those exiled for 
minor offences lead correct 
lives. According to my 
experience, the Siberians 
are more honest than the 
inhabitants of European 
Russia. After passing the 
Ural Mountains we always 
employed somebody to 
watch the sleigh while we 
were at meals in the sta- 
tion, which we did not do 
while in Siberia. 

« The gentleman who rode with me was an officer in the Russian serv- 
ice; he, like myself, carried a second-class paderojnia, but the ladies had 
only a third-class one. On the second day of our journey, just as we had 
finished dinner and our teams were ready to start, it was announced that 
the post with five vehicles was approaching. We donned our furs very 
quickly, while our servants gathered up our part of the dinner equip- 
ment. Leaving enough money on the table to pay for what we had re- 
ceived from the station, we bundled into our vehicles and hastened away. 




MAIL-DRIYER AND GUARD. 



FEES TO THE DRIVERS. 



371 



There was no danger of our losing the two teams which had been se- 
cured on the second-class paderojnias, but we were not at all certain about 
the other. If there had not been sufficient horses at the station for the 
post, our third team would have been taken from us, and we might have 
waited for hours before obtaining horses. The best way of solving the 
problem was to be out of the way when it came up for solution. As the 
man said of a railway accident, 6 Presence of mind is good, but absence of 
body is better.' 

" We obtained excellent speed from the horses where the roads were 
good, as we gave a fee to the drivers at the end of their routes, proportion- 
ing it according to the character of their service. My sleigh generally 
took the lead, and we always promised a liberal gratuity for extra rate of 




DISTANT VIEW OF A SIBERIAN VILLAGE. 



progress. The regulations require that vehicles not on Government service 
shall go at a pace of ten versts (six and two-third miles) an hour, provided 
the roads are in good condition. If a driver just came up to the regula- 
tions and no more, we gave him eight or ten copecks ; if he was accommo- 
dating and energetic, we increased his gratuity accordingly. Fifteen co- 
pecks was a liberal reward, twenty munificent, twenty-five princely, and 



372 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

thirty imperial. We went at breakneck pace where the roads permitted, 
and often where they did not. Occasionally we stimulated the drivers to 
a race, and then our progress was exciting, as well as dangerous. 

« The post was carried twice a week each way, and we frequently en- 
countered it. The bags contained merchandise in addition to letters and 
newspapers, as the Government does a sort of express business through 
the post-office, to the great convenience of the public. This accounted for 
the large number of vehicles employed. Travellers may purchase tickets 
and have their carriages accompany the post, but in so doing they are 
liable to a good many extortions. Each convoy is accompanied by a pos- 
tilion or guard, who is responsible for its security ; he is usually a soldier, 
and must be armed to repel robbers. Sometimes these postilions were so 
stuck around with pistols that they resembled travelling arsenals, and must 
have been very dangerous to themselves." 

Frank asked how many horses were required for the service of the post 

at each station. 

« The rules require each station-master to keep ten troikas, or thirty 
horses, ready for use; many stations had forty or fifty horses each, and the 
villages could generally supply any reasonable demand after those in the 
station were exhausted. Fourteen yemshieks (drivers) are kept at every 
station ; they are boarded by the smotretal, and receive about four dollars 
each a month, in addition to whatever gratuities they can pick up. When 
the post was expected they generally whispered that fact to our man- 
servant, so that we could get away as soon as possible. They preferred our 
service to that of the post, as we could be relied upon for gratuities, while 
none were obtainable from the inanimate bags of the Government mail. 

"Our good road lasted for two days and into the early hours of the 
third • then the snow became very thin, and at times we were dragged 
over bare ground for considerable distances. From very cold the weather 
turned to warm, and threatened to spoil our provisions as well as the roads. 

"Winter is by far the best time for travelling in Siberia, though at 
first thought one would suppose the summer preferable. In summer the 
weather is hot, there are clouds of dust when no rain falls, and long 
stretches of mud when it does; there are swarms and swarms of mos- 
quitoes, flies, and all sorts of winged things that trouble traveller and 
horses to a terrible degree. There is one kind of fly that drives the horses 
into a frenzy, so that they sometimes break away from the carriages or be- 
come unmanageable. A Eussian gravely told me that this Siberian horse- 
fly could bite through an iron stove-pipe without hurting his teeth, but 
I'm inclined to doubt it. 



SLEIGHING ON BARE GROUND. 373 

" Then, too, there are many streams to be crossed by fording or ferry- 
ing, and often there are long delays at the ferries. Fresh provisions can 
only be carried for a day or two at most, and a traveller must load his 




SOLDIERS IN SIBERIAN FERRY-BOATS. 



vehicle with a liberal stock of canned goods or run the risk of a very hard 
time. The frost seals up the rivers, causes the mosquitoes, flies, dust, mud, 
and kindred annoyances to disappear, and preserves your provisions for an 
indefinite period, except when a ' thaw ' comes on. If you ever make a 
journey through Siberia, by all means make it in winter. 

" The last hundred miles of our ride, from Irkutsk to Krasnoyarsk, was 
made over more bare ground than snow. In some places we had five or 
six horses to each carriage, and even then our progress was slow. Fort- 
unately it became cold again, but the sky was cloudless ; we longed for 
snow to cover the ground and improve the condition of the roads. 

" The last morning we took breakfast at a station fifty versts from 



374: 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



Krasnoyarsk, and learned that for the last thirty versts before reaching 
the city there was absolutely no snow. Yery curiously the snow extended 
up to the door of the station, and disappeared not more than a yard be- 
yond it ! Looking one way there was bare ground ; looking the other 
the road was good for sleighing. 

" Over cakes and tea we arranged our programme, which resulted in the 
ladies leaving their vashok until their return to Irkutsk, and riding into 
town on a telega. My sleigh and the other were unloaded, the baggage 
was piled into telegas, the sleighs were mounted on wagons which we 




VIEW OF KRASNOYARSK. FROM THE OPPOSITE BANK OF THE YENISEI. 



hired from the peasants, and with very little trouble the whole difficulty 
was adjusted. Altogether we were not at the station more than an hour, 
and at least half that time was taken for lunch." 

Fred asked how it happened that there was good sleighing in one direc- 
tion and hardly any snow in the other. 

" It is a climatic peculiarity," Mr. Hegeman explained, "and is not con- 
fined to that locality. You remember I mentioned Chetah, the first pro- 
vincial capital as you go west from the Amoor Eiver. At Chetah very 



A RUSSIAN SLEIGHING-SONG. 



375 



little snow falls in the winter, and sometimes for the entire year wheels 
must be used. Krasnoyarsk is in the valley of the Yenisei Eiver, and they 
told me that very little snow falls within twenty miles of the town, and in 
some winters none at all. I must leave the scientific men to explain it. 

"I heard a story at Krasnoyarsk of an Englishman who was trav- 
elling alone through Siberia a few winters before the time of my visit, 
Finding no snow there on his arrival, he decided to wait until it fell, and 
the roads would be good enough for him to proceed. He waited days 
and days, but no snow. The days grew into weeks, and the weeks into 
months, but still no snow. He remained sullenly at the hotel or wandered 
about the streets ; the hotel-keeper did not enlighten him, as he was a good 
customer, and the stranger did not seek counsel of any one else. He might 
have been there to this day had he not met in the hotel a fellow-country- 
man who was travelling eastward. The latter explained the climatic con- 
ditions of the place to his long-detained compatriot, and then the latter 
made arrangements for proceeding on his journey. 

" Before I forget it," continued Mr. Hegeman, " let me say that the 
Eussians have -several songs in which the delights of sleighing are de- 
scribed. Here is one of them, which may possibly need the explanation 
that the duga is the yoke over the shaft-horse's neck, and Valdai is the 
place where the most famous bells of Eussia are cast. You already know 
that a troika is a team of three horses harnessed abreast — 

" 'Away, away, along the road, 
The fiery troika bounds ; 
While 'neath the duga, sadly sweet, 
The Valdai bell resounds. 

" 'Away, away, we leave the town, 
Its roofs and spires, behind, 
The crystal snow-flakes dance around 
As o'er the steppe we wind. 

" ' Away* away, the glittering stars 
Shine greeting from above ; 
Our hearts beat fast as on we glide, 
Swift as the flying dove,' 

" I will tell you of a sleigh-ride in which there is less poetry than in 
the song I have quoted. 

" An English gentleman was stopping with some Siberian friends, and 
one day it was proposed to take a ride in a sledge. The Englishman had 



376 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 




A DANGEROUS RIDE. 



taken his seat and the driver was about mounting to his place, when the 
horses made a sudden start and dragged the reins from the driver's hands. 

" All that the Englishman could do was to hold on, and this he did to 
the best of his ability. The horses made straight for a ravine two or three 
hundred feet deep ; the unfortunate passenger and his friends thought he 
was going to certain death, but as they reached the edge of the ravine the 
horses whirled about and ran in the opposite direction. 

" The sledge in turning was swung over the abyss, and hung for an in- 
stant in the air ; the team ran two or three miles before it was stopped 
by one of the horses stumbling among some logs. Severely bruised and 
with his hand half crushed, the Englishman got out of the sledge, and 
concluded he had had all the riding he desired for that day at least." 



PECULIARITIES OF KRASNOYARSK. 



377 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

POSITION AND CHARACTER OF KRASNOYARSK. — A LESSON IN RUSSIAN PRONUN- 
CIATION. — MARKET SCENE.— SIBERIAN TREES.— THE O UKHABA. — A NEW SEN- 
SATION. — ROAD - FEVER AMD ITS CAUSE. — AN EXCITING ADVENTURE WITH 
WOLVES. — HOW WOLVES ARE HUNTED.— FROM KRASNOYARSK TO TOMSK- 
STEAM NAVIGATION IN SIBERIA.— BARNAOOL.— MINES OF THE ALTAI. TIGERS 

AND TIGER STORIES.— THE BO URAN. — ACROSS THE BAR ABA STEPPE.— TUMEN 
AND EKATERINEBURG. — FROM EUROPE TO ASIA. — PERM, KAZAN, AND NIJNI 
NOVGOROD.— END OF THE SLEIGH-RIDE. 

T^RANK asked what was meant by the word Krasnoyarsk : was it de- 
rived from a river, a mountain, or did it belong to an individual ? 

"Krasnoe," said Mr. Hegeman, "means 4 red,' and Krasnoyarsk gets 
its name from the red cliffs of the Yenisei on which it stands. All around 
the town the soil is of a reddish hue, and so are the hills that form the 
horizon in every direction. The Yenisei is a fine river, one of the largest 
in Siberia, and where it passes Krasnoyarsk it is fully half a mile wide. 
In summer there are two or three steamboats running to the Arctic Ocean 
from a point a little below Krasnoyarsk ; rapids and shoals prevent their 
coming up to the town. The tributaries of the river are rich in gold de- 
posits, and many of the residents have grown wealthy by gold-mining. 

"Krasnoyarsk has a population of about twelve thousand, and in a gen- 
eral way is a sort of pocket edition of Irkutsk. It is the capital of the 
province of Yeniseisk, and the centre of trade for a wide extent of coun- 
try. ^ Markets, churches, and buildings in general are like those of Irkutsk, 
and there is an appearance of prosperity throughout the place." 

Fred asked how it happened that the names of nearly all the towns in 
Siberia ended in " sk." They had been hearing about Irkutsk, Yeniseisk, 
Selenginsk, and he didn't know how many others. 

Dr. Bronson came to the young man's relief as follows : 

" I think you learned in St. Petersburg that the termination 6 sk ' is 
equivalent to 'of in English?" 

"Certainly," replied Fred, "I learned that 'vitch' means 'son of.' 
Paul Ivanovitch, for example, being Paul, son of Ivan. I understand also 
that Alexandrovsky was named after Alexander, Petrovski after Peter, 



378 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

Nicolayevsk after Nicholas, and so on through the list of Russian saints 
and emperors. But I've not heard of any distinguished personages with 
the names I've just quoted belonging to towns or cities." 

" These Siberian names really assist the memory in a geographical 
way," the Doctor answered, " as they tell us where the town is located. 




BEGGAR AT A SIBERIAN STATION. 

Selenginsk is on the Selenga River ; Irkutsk is on the Irkut, where it emp- 
ties into the Angara ; Yeniseisk (province) is in the valley of the Yenisei, 
and the town of that name is on the river's bank. In the same way Omsk 
is on the Om, Tomsk on the Tom, Tobolsk on the Tobol, Irbitsk on the 
Irbit, and Kansk on the Kan. The list could be extended to great length." 

"I must make a note of that," said Fred, " as it will be of use to stu- 
dents of geography in the schools at home. But what hard words they 

are to pronounce !" 

" They are not as difficult as they seem at first sight," said the Doctor. 
" The chief difficulty comes from our knowing they are Russian, and ex- 
pecting they will twist our tongues. Three consonants together are terri- 
ble—in Russian ; in English they are easy enough." 



A LESSON IN RUSSIAN PRONUNCIATION. 379 

"I quite agree with you," said Mr. Hegeman. "After I went to 
America on my return from Siberia, many of my friends complained of 
the jaw-breaking names of the places I had visited, and declared they 
never could speak them. A lady of my acquaintance tried in vain to 
pronounce Irkutsk; its three consonants, t, s, and k, were too much for 
her but she had not the slightest difficulty in asking me about the fasts 
and feasts of the Church. The s, t, and s of < fasts ' and < feasts ' are con- 
sonants, and just as difficult of pronunciation as the others; but the one 
set is Russian and the other 6 English, you know.' 

"Let me suggest an easy way of wrestling with the Russian terminals 
tsk, nsh, msJc, and the like : 

"If you're struggling with Irkutsk take the word 'coot,' which is per- 
fectly familiar to you. Put an s to it and make 'coots,' and then a k to 
that and make < cootsk ' or < kutsk.' With the prefix er you have the capi- 
tal of Eastern Siberia before you. 

"In the same way dispose of Kansk by building up the word 'can' 
till you have reached the end. The other terminals which seem so diffi- 
cult may be rendered perfectly innocuous to the organs of speech if kind- 
ly and intelligently treated. 

"To return to Krasnoyarsk and its snowless district. 
"A description of the place, its buildings, markets, and other features 
would be nearly a repetition of that of Irkutsk, but on a smaller scale 
In the market I was particularly interested in the character and abun- 
dance of the fish offered for sale. Among them were pike, sturgeon 
perch, and others with which I was familiar, and there was one fish which 
closely resembled the smelt. Another that I had never before seen had 
a bill resembling that of a duck and a long and thin body. All these 
fishes came from the Yenisei or its tributaries; some of them dweir per- 
manently in the river, and others ascend in the summer from the Arctic 
Ocean. 

" There is a Ml call ed omulli by the Russians, and evidently a mem- 
ber of the trout family. It lives in the smaller streams of Siberia, and 
furnishes a caviar that is greatly prized. The omulli's caviar is of a gold- 
en color, and quite in contrast with the black caviar made from the roe of 
the sturgeon. 

"The Yenisei at Krasnoyarsk has a swift current, and resembles the 
Mississippi at St. Louis, according to the descriptions they gave me. Of 
course I could not verify the statement, as the river was frozen over at 
the time of my visit. The width and volume of the Yenisei gave inter- 
est to a story which was told by one of the residents : 



380 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

" One of the good citizens of Krasnoyarsk had been attending a wed- 
ding on the other side of the river, and started for home rather late at 
night, with the intention of reaching the ferry abont daylight. He was 
in a telega drawn by two horses; on the way from the wedding he fell 
asleep, and the horses took their own course. When they reached the 
river they were donbtless hungry, and impatient to return to their stable. 
The ferry-boat was on the other side, and the animals did not choose to 
wait They plunged in and started across ; the telega, being wholly of 
wood, had sufficient buoyancy to keep it afloat, but the occupant was awak- 
ened by the cold bath. Though frightened half to death, he had the good 

sense to lie perfectly still and make 
the best of the situation ; the hardy 
beasts took him safely over, but he 
never cared to repeat the advent- 
ure. The few individuals that saw 
him coming in the early daylight 
could hardly believe their eyes ; and 
one, at least, thought it was Nep- 
tune in his chariot ascending the 
waters of the Yenisei." 

" Another illustration of the ex- 
cellence of the horses of Siberia," 
said Fred. "I long to travel in 
that country, and have the experi- 
ence of riding behind them." 

Frank asked Mr. Hegeman if 
there were any high mountains in 
the neighborhood of Krasnoyarsk. 

" There are not," was the reply, 
"only some low hills and rounded 
peaks that do not rise to the height 
and dignity of mountains. I believe most geographers are agreed on 
applying the term 'mountain' only to elevations of fifteen hundred feet 
and more, everything below that figure being called a hill. Lnder this 
restriction there are no mountains on the road through Siberia between 
Lake Baikal and the Ural range. Most of the country is flat and unin- 
teresting ; sometimes it is a perfectly level plain, and in other places it 
is undulating like a rolling prairie in Kansas or Nebraska Along the 
rivers it is broken by ranges of hills, but as soon as you go back from the 
rivers you come to the plain again. 




POLICEMAN AT KRASNOYARSK. 



CHARACTER OF SIBERIAN FORESTS. 381 

"Hour after hour, and day after day, we rode over this monotonous 
country, the landscape, or rather snowscape, presenting very little to at- 
tract the eye. This feature of the country makes the Siberian journey a 
dreary one, not unlike the journey from the Missouri River to the Rocky 
Mountains before the days of the transcontinental railway." 

Fred asked if this level part of Siberia was treeless like many portions 
of our Western country. 

" There is a vast amount of treeless land," said Mr. Hegeman, in re- 
sponse to the inquiry, " but it is not all of that sort. There are many 
forests of birch, pine, spruce, and larch. In some localities birch is the 




HILLS NEAR A SIBERIAN RIVER. 



only wood for building purposes, in others larch, and in others pine or 
spruce. Other Siberian trees are willow, fir, poplar, elm, and maple. Cen- 
tral and Southern Siberia are well wooded, but the farther we go towards 
the north the fewer trees do we find. The plains bordering the Arctic 
Ocean are treeless ; the poplar disappears at 60° north latitude, the birch 
at 63°, and the pine and larch at 64°." 

" I thought I had read about a species of cedar that grows over the 
plains to the far North," said the Doctor, " and that it serves to make 
that region habitable by furnishing fuel for the natives." 

" I was about to mention the trailing cedar," said Mr. Hegeman. " The 
Russians call it Jcedrevnik, and some of the native tribes regard it as a spe- 
cial gift of Providence. It spreads on the ground like a vine, and has 



382 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

needles and cones similar to those of the cedar ; the trunks are gnarled 
and twisted, very difficult to cut or split, but vastly preferable to no wood 
at all. Thousands of miles of country are covered with the trailing cedar, 
and in winter it is found by digging in the snow. 

« On leaving Krasnoyarsk," continued Mr. Hegeman, " I travelled with 
a gentleman who had been northward to the shores of the Arctic Ocean 
during the previous summer, he accompanying me in my sleigh, while 
his own was occupied by a servant and a goodly amount of baggage. For 




JUMPING AN "OUKHABA." 



thirty miles there was no snow, and so we mounted our sleighs on wagons 
and sent them to the beginning of the snow road, while we followed in a 
telega a few hours after their departure. We overtook them just at the 
beginning of the snow road, and were glad enough to change from the 
telega. The vehicle had no springs, and we were shaken in it worse than 
if tossed in a blanket. The frozen ground was rough, and reminded me 
of a nutmeg-grater on a Brobdingnagian scale. 

"We had started with the intention of overtaking the sleighs before 
sunset, but our slow progress over the rough roads had so delayed us that 
the evening was well advanced before our destination was reached. The 
transfer of baggage was made in the moonlight ; one or two small articles 
disappeared in the operation, but whether stolen or accidentally lost we 
never knew. 

" In Irkutsk I had been told that a new sensation awaited me m the 
Siberian oukhaba, and I found it on the first night's travelling after leav- 
ing Krasnoyarsk. What do you suppose it was V 



THE RUSSIAN "ROAD FEVER." 



383 



Both the youths shook their heads and said they didn't know, while 
Doctor Bronson preserved a discreet silence. 

"The oukhaba of the Siberian road," Mr. Hegeman explained, " is the 
equivalent of the ' hog-wallow ' of the American one ; the former is formed 
in the snow, and the latter in the bare ground. It is caused by the snow 
lying in drifts or ridges when it is blown by the wind, and also by the 
roads being worn with much travel. The road is a succession of ridges 
and hollows ; the drivers go at full speed, without the slightest regard to 
the pitching and tossing of the sleigh, and the result is a severe trial of 
one's nerves. The motion causes a rush of blood to one's head, and de- 
velops what the Kussians call ' the road-fever.' 

" I did not escape the road-fever, and to this day I shudder when think- 
ing of this part of my experience, the most disagreeable feature of the 
journey. My body was sore and stiff; at every jolt it seemed as though 
the top of my head would fly off ; sleep was next to impossible ; and when I 
did manage to slumber, my dreams were something frightful. My temper 
was spoiled, and a quarrel might have been created with anything and any- 
body without the least effort. The fever runs its course in two or three 
days, but may last longer ; as long as the roads are bad the inexperienced 
traveller is liable to it. Sometimes the sleigh made a clear jump of five 
or six feet, and the wonder was that the vehicle did not go to pieces and 
leave us hopelessly wrecked." 

Fred asked if any wolves were seen in this part of the journey or else- 
where in Siberia. 

" Occasionally we saw wolves," was the reply, " but not often. There 
are plenty of wolves in Siberia, but they have enough to live upon in the 
game that abounds everywhere, so that they are not likely to attack trav- 
ellers. Siberian and American wolves are much alike, but the former are 
said to be larger and fiercer than their American cousins. 

"I can tell you some wolf stories, but they do not belong to Siberia. 
It is only in Western Kussia and in Poland that travellers are attacked by 
wolves, and then only in the severest winters, when game is very scarce 
and hunger has made the animals desperate." 

" Please tell us one of those stories," said Frank. " I have read ac- 
counts of men being chased by wolves, but have just now forgotten what 
they were." 

The request was echoed by Fred, and Mr. Hegeman kindly gratified 
their wish. 

" To begin with," said he, " the horses are the object of attack and not 
the men in the vehicle ; but of course when the horses are overpowered 



384 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

the wolves make no distinction and devour everything edible. When des- 
perate they will venture to the farm-yards to kill sheep and cattle. Their 
favorite article of food, other than wild game, is a pig, and the squealing 
of a pig is an appeal that no hungry wolf can resist. 

l < Advantage of this propensity is taken by those who go out to hunt 
the wolf for amusement. On a moonlight night two hunters go out with 




WOLVES ATTACKING A BUFFALO. 



an open sledge drawn by two horses ; they carry their guns, with plenty 
of ammunition, a pig tied by the feet, and a bag of hay, together with 
furs and robes to keep them warm. When they reach the middle of the 
forest where the wolves abound, the horses' heads are turned towards home, 
the bag of hay, fastened to a rope from twenty to forty feet long, is thrown 
out, and the pig's ear is pinched until the poor creature squeals in his loud- 
est tones. If a wolf is within hearing he comes at once, and if there are oth- 
er wolves they follow him and his example. The pig's ear is continually 
twisted ; the squealing resounds through the forest, and when the wolves 
come in sight they mistake the bag of hay for the animal they seek. 
They rush for it, and as they come within range are shot down. The 



A RUSSIAN WOLF STORY. 



385 



sleigh does not stop to pick up the game, but continues its course at a 
walk or slow trot, provided the driver can restrain the terror-stricken 
horses. The next day the dead wolves, if any, are gathered for the sake 
of their skins. 

" Sometimes a dozen or more wolves will be killed in this way in a 
single night, but more frequently the hunters return empty-handed. Some- 
times the wolves come in great numbers, and with so much fierceness that 
the hunters are obliged to flee for their lives — not always successfully. 

" And now comes the wolf story I promised ; it was told to me by a 
Kussian officer some years ago, and I will endeavor to give it as nearly as 
possible in his own words. Imagine that he is talking to you as he talked 
to me : 

'"I was stopping for a part of the winter at the house of a fellow-offi- 
cer near Yilna, where he had a large estate. His name was Selrnanoff, and 
he was noted for his excellent 
horsemanship and bis love for all 
kinds of hunting sport. 

" ' The winter was one of the 
worst that had been known for 
a long while, and two or three 
times we heard of travellers 
through the forest having been 
pursued by wolves. Of course 
this led to a wolf hunt, which 
Selrnanoff proposed and I heart- 
ily accepted. 

" ' We made our preparations, 
selecting a broad sledge open all 
around, and formed of wicker-work, so that it was light as well as strong. 
We carried two short, smooth-bore guns of large calibre — rifles are not 
desirable on these hunts, as it is impossible to take accurate aim from the 
moving sledge in the moonlight. The guns were breech-loaders, and 
the charge was a heavy one of buck-shot and ball. 

"'We had two horses, young and powerful beasts, and the driver was 
one of the best on the estate. After dining heartily we started about sun- 
set and drove some twenty miles or so into the middle of the forest, over a 
good road which had been trodden by the peasants carrying their produce 
to the market at the nearest town. Our decoy pig lay quietly among the 
furs, and gave no sign of his presence save an occasional grunt of dissatis- 
faction at his uncomfortable position. 

25 




A SIBERIAN WOLF. 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 




"'At the spot where 
the hunt was to begin we 
turned about and threw out 
our bag of hay; then we 
twisted the pig's ear and he 
protested with a loud squeal. 
"'An answering howl came 
from the forest, and seemingly 
not a dozen yards away. Anoth- 
er howl and another followed 
quickly, and then the air was full 
of them. 

"'In a minute or so a dark 
form was revealed on the snow 
behind us, and making straight 
for the hay-bag. Selmanoff gave 
me the first fire, and I took it. 
The wolf fell at my shot just as 
he was within a few yards of the 
bag. 

" ' But another came, and then 
another, and in a few minutes 
there were a dozen or more in 
sight. We shot them as fast as 
they came within range, but the numbers did not diminish. The shoot- 




SUMMER AND WINTER IN RUSSIA. 



CHASED BY WOLVES. 



387 



ing and the howling of the wolves frightened the horses, and the driver 
had a difficult task to restrain them. 

" ' As the wolves increased in number, we saw we were in danger ; the 
extent of the pack was far beyond our expectation, and the long-continued 
hunger of the' brutes had,- made them very fierce. The shooting of one 
after another did not seem to restrain their ardor in the least; those that 
were untouched by our shot dashed madly ahead, and showed a determina- 
tion to appease their hunger at all hazards. 

" ' Selmanoff told the driver to increase the speed of the horses. He 
gave the order not a moment too soon. Just as the horses were put to a 
gallop, several wolves sprang from the forest at our side, and if we had 
been going slowly they would have easily reached the sleigh. As it was, 
we passed within a few feet of them, and their howls of angry disappoint- 
ment rang in our ears. 

" ' We cut the rope that held the hay-bag ; it detained our pursuers only 
a few moments, as they quickly discovered it was not what they wanted. 

" ' On they came again. We loaded and fired as fast as we could ; there 
was no occasion to take accurate aim, as the road behind us was fairly 
filled with wolves, and it was quite sufficient to point our guns at the 
dark mass revealed against the snow. 

" 6 We had made six or eight miles on our return, when an additional 
danger that threatened us was suggested by my friend. There was a sharp 
angle in the road a mile or so ahead of us, and, at the pace we were pro- 
ceeding, the sledge would certainly be upset in going around the angle. 
As we approached the point of peril we ceased firing, laid our guns among 
the' furs, ordered the speed of the horses to be slackened — no easy thing to 
accomplish — and then both of us hung out as far as possible on the inner 
side of the sledge, to keep it from going over. 

" 'As we made the turn the sledge was poised for some distance on one 
of its runners, and if we had not taken all the precautions I have named, 
it would have gone over. From this point was a clear and comparatively 
straight run homeward of ten or twelve miles, and the horses were put to 
their best work. They had no need of urging, as they knew the danger 
that threatened as well as we did. 

" ' One horse stumbled and fell ; he was up in an instant, but not before 
the wolves had actually reached the sledge. One of them jumped direct- 
ly at it, but as he did so I pressed the muzzle of my gun to his head and 
fired. Another sprang upon the fallen horse as he was rising to his feet, 
but was shaken off before he obtained a good hold with his fangs. 

" ' The servants of the chateau heard us coming at full speed and our 



388 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



rapid firing. They knew something was the matter, and as we neared the 
house they began shouting and waving lanterns. The wolves slackened 
their speed and gave up the chase, but not until we were within a hun- 
dred yards of safety. 

" ' "We dashed into the court-yard, the gates were closed, and then Sel- 
manoff and I, both fainting from exhaustion after our terrible ride, were 




VILLAGE ON A RUSSIAN ESTATE. 

assisted from the sledge and into the house. You may be sure that since 
then I have never wished to undertake a wolf -hunt of this sort.' " 

"An excellent story," said Frank. "It is certainly better than those 
wherein people are obliged to draw lots to see who shall be sacrificed to 
the wolves in order that the others may escape." 

« I agree with you," said Fred. " There's quite enough of the sensa- 
tional in having everybody get away safely after an exciting run, instead 
of being eaten up by their pursuers. If only the wolves are killed it is 
all right, as they are enemies of the human race, and do no good to any 
one except to furnish skins for sleigh -robes, rugs, and other useful or 
ornamental things." 

It was agreed unanimously that the best known use for a wolf was to 
convert his skin into something of the kind described. When this deci- 
sion had been reached, the conversation reverted to the sleigh-ride through 
Siberia. 



ARRIVAL AT TOMSK. 



389 



" We left the road in pursuit of wolves, while travelling westward 
from Krasnoyarsk," said Mr. Hegeman. 

" Jumping oukhabas," suggested one of the youths. 

" Yes, that was it exactly. Well, we jumped oukhabas, rode over bare 
ground, were caught in a snow-storm, and had a tough time generally till 
we reached Tomsk, the next provincial capital. It takes its name from 




A SLIGHT MISHAP. 



the river Tom on which it stands, and is a prosperous place with about 
twenty thousand inhabitants. 

"As at Irkutsk, there are many wealthy merchants in the city, and also 
a fair number of citizens who have made fortunes by mining for gold. 
The houses are spacious and well-built, and there is a large 'gymnasium,' 



390 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



or high-school, for hoys, and an ' institute,' or high-school, for girls. Many 
private teachers find employment in rich families who prefer educating 
their children at home. Tomsk may he regarded as the most important 
place in Siberia next to Irkutsk. 

" There is a line of water communication between Tomsk and Tumen, 
a thousand miles to the westward, but of course it is only available in 
summer. Fifteen or twenty steamboats are engaged in the traffic; they 
descend the Tom to the Ob, and the Ob to the Irtish, which they ascend 
to the Tobol. Then they follow the Tobol to the Tura, and the Tura to 
Tumen. With barges in tow, the journey occupies twelve days ; without 
them it is made in a week. Travellers are so few that it does not pay to 
run boats for passengers alone, and all the boats in use when I was there 
were mainly for freight purposes, and had limited space for passengers. 
If you look at the map of Siberia, you will see that it possesses an excel- 
lent system of water communication. 

" The only navigation of the Tom that I saw was by a native who had 
fallen through a hole in the ice and just crawled out. He stood dripping 
on the edge for a moment, as though uncertain what to do ; then, evi- 
dently realizing his danger, he sprang on his sledge and rode away, to 
reach home before he was frozen solid. 

"At the suggestion of my companion we decided to go to Barnaool, 
which lies about three hundred miles south of the main road, and is the 
centre of the Enssian mining region of the Altai Mountains. We re- 
mained a day at Tomsk, in order to see the Governor and obtain his per- 
mission to leave our route, which was readily granted. 

"We started in the evening, and forty -four hours later drove into 
Barnaool and alighted at the hotel. An officer who left Tomsk a few 
hours in advance of us, kindly notified the station-masters of our approach, 
and thus caused them to have horses in readiness. If he had not done so 
we should have been seriously delayed, as the regulations require only 
three troikas to be kept at the stations on the side road, while ten are 
maintained along the great route. For the last part of the way the driv- 
ers took us to houses of their friends instead of going to the post-stations. 
The peasants through Siberia have a good many horses, and are glad to 
earn money in this way by transporting travellers. 

" Barnaool is a prosperous town, depending partly upon the gold-min- 
ing interest, and partly upon trade with the Kirghese and other people of 
Central Asia. It has a Club, a Geographical Society, a large and interest- 
ing museum, together with smelting-works, factories, and machine-shops 
connected with the mining interests. Social conversation has a good deal 



THE FIRST AMERICAN IN BARNAOOL. 



391 



to do with gold and silver and other precious things, and in summer many 
of the officials are absent at the mining establishments in the mountains. 
The society is similar to that of Irkutsk, and fully as accomplished and 
hospitable. They told me I was the first American that had ever been in 
Barnaool, and I was most heartily welcomed and made to feel at home. 

" One day a gentleman invited me to call at his house, and said his 
daughters were under the impression that Americans were black. 6 1 will 
not undeceive them,' said he, ' and if they appear astonished when they 
see you, you will understand it.' 

" When I called at the house and was presented to the family, I was 
immediately surrounded by three or four little girls, and they looked with 




SUMMER VIEW NEAR BARNAOOL. 



great curiosity at my face. Finally one of them sidled up to her mother 
and said something, of which I caught the words, 6 JVee chomey' ("Not 
black")." 

After Frank and Fred had laughed over this little anecdote, their in- 
formant explained that the impression that Americans were black was not 
confined to the family of this gentleman at the foot of the Altai Mount- 
ains. He said he had been told of it on several occasions, not only in Si- 
beria but in European Russia; but it was almost always confined to the 



392 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

lower class of people, or to children who had received their information 
from servants. 

" I had an odd experience of this impression about our national color a 
few years ago," said Doctor Bronson. " It was in a small city of Austria 
where strangers do not often penetrate, and our countrymen are not as 
well known as in Vienna and Paris. 

" I w T as making a purchase in a shop, and while chatting with the sales- 
woman she asked my nationality. I told her I was an American. She 
shook her head doubtingly, and said she thought I must be an English- 
man, as I ' didn't look like an American.' 

" < Why don't I look like an American V I asked. 

" ' There was an American gentleman here a few months ago,' said she, 
i and he was just as black as your hat.' 

"I didn't follow the topic further," said Doctor Bronson, "but con- 
cluded to let her have her own opinion about my national complexion." 

"One of the most interesting things I saw at Barnaool," said Mr. 
Hegeman, resuming the subject of conversation, "was the Government 
Museum. I spent the greater part of a day there, and only had time 
to glance over the admirable collection. There is a mining department 
which contains models of all the machinery used in gold-mining, and in 
many instances the machines themselves. Some of the machines are 
nearly a hundred years old, and almost identical with those in use to-day. 
There is a letter from the Empress Elizabeth, bearing her autograph, giv- 
ing directions about the working of the mines in her time ; it is kept in 
an ivory box on the table around which the Mining Board holds its ses- 
sions. The first discoveries of precious metals in the Altai region were 
made by one of the Demidoffs, who was sent there by Peter the Great. 
A monument in the public square of Barnaool records his services and 
keeps his memory green. 

" There are models of mines similar to those in the Mining School at 
St. Petersburg, so that the student can see what kind of work is before 
him. They showed me a steam-engine which is said to have been made 
at Barnaool in 1764, for the purpose of blowing the furnaces ; the direc- 
tor of the museum claimed that it was on the principle adopted by James 
Watt in 1765, and therefore, he argued, the credit of the improvement 
upon the old engine of IsTewcomen should be given to Siberia rather than 
to Scotland. 

" Yery interesting was the collection of natural history, which included 
the skins of two enormous tigers killed a few years before in one of the 
Southern districts of Western Siberia. Both these tigers had histories, 



A BATTLE WITH A TIGER. 



393 



and were supposed to be murderers ; one of them fell after a long fight in 
which he killed one of his assailants and wounded two others. The other 
tiger had sprung upon a man who was riding one horse and leading an- 
other; the man escaped by leaving the led horse for the tiger to devour. 
He rode to the nearest village where he could obtain weapons and assist- 
ance, and then returned to the locality of the attack. Carefully creeping 
through the tall grass, he found the tiger busy over his meal ; every few 




ATTACKED BY A TIGKR. 



moments he raised his head and paused to listen for the sound of ap- 
proaching footsteps, but so cautiously did the hunter proceed that he was 
not heard. 

" He managed to get within ten yards of the ferocious beast, and then 



394 



THE BOY TRAVELLEES IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



by a well-directed shot stretched him on the ground. The fame lie ob- 
tained for his prowess, and the money from the sale of the shin to the 
museum, compensated him for the loss of the horse, but it must be remem- 
bered that he ran a great risk in searching for the tiger as he did. 




BEARCOOTS AND WOLVES. 



" There were in the museum some fine specimens (stuffed) of the bear- 
coot, an enormous eagle of the Altai Mountains. It is considerably larger 
than the American eagle, and strong enough to kill easily a deer or a wolf. 
The Kirghese tame these eagles and employ them for hunting purposes, 
just as hawks were employed in England centuries ago. A bearcoot will 
swoop down upon a full-grown deer and kill him in a few minutes; a 
deer running at full speed can be overtaken by a bearcoot in a course of 



POISONING A BEARCOOT. 



395 



little ( more than a mile, when he has the advantage of fully a mile at the 
start. 

"Sometimes when a pack of wolves has run down a deer and killed 
it, a pair of bearcoots will appear and take possession of the game. Two 
bearcoots are a match for a dozen wolves, and the latter acknowledge their 
inferiority by getting out of the way immediately. 

" Some experiments on the power of the bearcoot to resist poison were 
made at Barnaool shortly before my visit. Half a grain of curara (deadly 



THE STEPPE IN SDMMER. 

poison from Brazil) had no effect beyond increasing the bird's appetite. 
Four grains of strychnine caused his feathers to tremble fifteen minutes 
after swallowing the stuff, and five hours later threw him into convulsions 
from which he recovered next day. A week later seven grains of curara 
had no effect upon him for two days ; then he went into convulsions, which 
lasted several hours and ended with his death. 

" But we are staying too long at Barnaool, and must go to the road 
again. From Barnaool we went northward and westward to Tumen over 
the great Baraba Steppe ; it is but a steppe from one place to the other, 



396 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

but the distance is a thousand miles, and we were a week in making it. 
We were caught in a bouran, or storm, analagous to the Texas norther or 
the bora of Trieste. The wind blew violently, the snow whirled in blind- 
ing masses ; the road was so buried that several times we lost our way, and 
finally concluded it safest to wait at a station till the storm was over. 
Happily we were not long delayed. 

"In summer these bourans or ouragans (a word which is probably 
of the same origin as hurricane) are sometimes so severe that they sweep 
dry the bed of a small river in a few minutes, and create large clouds of 
dust as they pass over the land. The one we encountered was from the 
south, and therefore warm. A northern bouran in winter is something ter- 
rific, as the thermometer goes very low and the intense cold added to the 
wind is destructive to animal life. Men and horses have been lost in these 
bourans, and I was cautioned not to venture to face them if I could avoid 
doing so. 

« Many Tartars live on the Baraba Steppe, but we saw few of them, 
as we changed horses at the houses of the Russian peasants. There was 
formerly a very small population of Russians on the steppe between Tu- 
men and Tomsk; the Governor-general of Siberia persuaded Catherine 
the Great to give him all the conscripts of a levy instead of sending them 
to the army. He settled them with their families in villages along the 
route across the steppe, and the present population consists of the de- 
scendants of these people, together with exiles and voluntary emigrants of 
the present century. 

" Grain is produced in abundance on the steppe. Wheat, rye, and oats 
are often as low as ten or twenty cents a bushel, as there is no market for 
produce beyond what can be sold to travellers. A railway is one of the 
hopes of the future, and when it comes the steppe will be prosperous. A 
great deal of hemp and flax is raised there ; I bought about sixty feet of 
half-inch rope for thirty cents at one station, and afterwards learned that I 
paid too much. Our harness was constantly breaking, and every few days 
it was necessary to buy a quantity of rope for purposes of repair. A Rus- 
sian mujik will perform wonders of harness - mending if you give him 
plenty of rope. 

" I will not weary you with describing in detail the rest of the long 
sleigh-ride. Through Tumen we went without delay, and from that place 
to Ekaterineburg we had no incident of consequence. At Ekaterineburg 
we stopped a day, and passed several hours among the shops devoted to 
the sale of semi-precious stones, which are cut into all sorts of fantastic 
shapes. The town is as famous for these things as is Cologne for the per- 



THE GOVERNMENT LAPIDAEY WORKS AT EKATER1NEBUEG. 397 




SPECIMEN OF ROCK-CRYSTAL. 



fumed spirit that bears its name, Naples for coral, or Benares for brass- 
ware. More than a thousand workmen are engaged by private employers 
or by the Government in this industry. The Granilnoi Fabric, or Gov- 
ernment Lapidary Establishment, 
was closed at the time of my visit, 
which happened during Christmas 
week. I understand it has since 
been sold, and is now in private 
hands. 

" Itinerant dealers in the streets 
offer the cut crystals to strangers, 
and the waiters at the hotels have 
stocks of them for sale. The col- 
lections at the dealers are a bewil- 
dering array of amethyst, beryl, 
topaz, tourmaline, chalcedony, jas- 
per, aquamarine, malachite, quartz, and other stones. There are seals, pa- 
per-weights, beads, vases, statuettes, brooches, buttons, charms, and an 
endless variety of ornamental things. 

" There were imitations of leaves, flowers, and grapes tastefully ar- 
ranged together, and formed of differently colored stones ; there were min- 
iature caves and grottos in which 
the stones were artistically grouped; 
and there were busts of the Emper- 
or of Russia and other high person- 
ages in the Empire, together with 
busts of the reigning sovereigns of 
Europe. Learning that I was an 
American, the proprietor of one 
establishment showed me a half- 
finished bust of President Lincoln 
cut in topaz and about six inches 
high. 

" We left Ekaterineburg one 
evening, and about midnight passed 
the ridge of the Ural Mountains and 
entered European Russia. The Urals at this point are a succession of low 
hills covered with fir-trees, and as you look at the range from Ekaterine- 
burg you would not suspect you were in the neighborhood of mountains. 
North and south of this point the mountains become more steep, but they 




MONUMENT AT THE BOUNDARY. 





VP 
{ 



nowhere attain to great heights. 
All this part of the Urals is rich 
in minerals; there are extensive 
mines of iron, copper, and gold, 
those of iron being of the great- 
est, and the gold-mines of the least 
importance. 

" A very large part of all the 
iron used in Russia comes from 
the Urals, and the same is the case with the copper. The copper-money 
of the Empire is coined at the Moneta Fabric, or mint, at Ekaterineburg, 
and from an immense foundery a few miles away comes the Russian sheet- 
iron which is so popular in America for the manufacture of parlor stoves 
and stove-pipe. The Urals contain the only mines where malachite is 



WESTERN SLOPE OF THE URAL MOUNTAINS. 



DOWN THE WESTERN SLOPE OF THE URALS. 



399 



found in quantities of any consequence, and when you look at a piece of 
this beautiful oxide of copper you. can be almost absolutely certain that it 
came from the neighborhood of Ekaterineburg. A mass of malachite 
weighing' more than four.' hundred tons was found there about the middle 
of the present century, the largest single piece ever discovered. 

"At the boundary between European and Asiatic Eussia there is a 
stone monument with the word EUROPE on one side and ASIA on 
the other. It is only seventeen hundred feet above the level of the sea, 
and w T as erected to commemorate the visit of the Emperor Alexander I. 
to his Siberian dominions. I stepped from the sleigh and stood for a 
few moments with a foot in either continent, but though I made careful 
observation I could not discover any difference between the soil, climate, 
productions, manners, customs, or social conditions of the Occident and 
Orient of the Old World. 

" Down the Western slope of the Urals we drove as fast as our horses 
could carry us, making brief halts to change horses at the stations, jumping 
oukhabas that threatened to shake us and our vehicles to pieces, repelling 
the advances of beggars that solicited us at every stopping-place, riding 
sometimes for many miles at a time between double rows of birch-trees 
which the Government has planted to mark the roads and prevent the 
snow from drifting, and now and then coming temporarily to grief through 
the breaking of our harness. We found the stations more numerous and 
more commodious than in Asiatic Russia, the country more densely peo- 
pled, and as the days of fasting had given way to days of feasting, we 
found an abundance of provisions wherever we stopped. We carried now 
only our tea and sugar, as everything else was easy to procure. 

" We passed through Perm at night and in a snow-storm, and my rec- 
ollections of the place are consequently few. From Kazan my road lay 
along the frozen surface of the Volga to Nijni Novgorod, where the sleigh- 
ride was to terminate. 

" Sometimes the sleigh was left on the ice of the river while the driv- 
ers went to the station on the bank to change horses, and sometimes it was 
driven up the sloping road and then down again. Going up was all right, 
but descending was occasionally perilous. 

" The sleigh manifested a tendency to go faster than the horses ; there 
was usually no protecting wall or rail at the outer edge of the slope, and 
more than once we narrowly escaped being pitched down a steep cliff of 
frozen earth to the solid ice fifty or a hundred feet below r . At such times 
the way of safety lay in forcing the horses ahead, in the hope that they 
would overcome the sideling motion of the sleigh. As there was a chance 



400 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

that they might stumble, and throw horses, sleigh, passengers, baggage, and 
driver all in°a heap, the alternative was nearly as bad as the preliminary 
danger. 

" On the 6th of January we passed several places where baptizings 
through the ice were in progress. This is one of the days that the Church 




DESCENDING A HILL-SIDE ROAD. 

consecrates to baptismal ceremonies, and throughout the Empire many 
thousands of devout worshippers are plunged into the icy water. We did 
not stop to witness the ceremony, but caught a glimpse of a priest reading 
from a book, while another was holding by the hands a man whose head 
just rose above the surface of the water. As fast as the baptized ones 
emerged from the hole through the ice they ran rapidly to the village, a 
short distance away. 



A LONG SLEIGH-RIDE. 401 

" There at last are the domes of Nijni Novgorod, and there I say fare- 
well to my sleigh. 

" I have passed two hundred and nine stations, with as many changes 




BAPTIZING THROUGH THE ICK. 



of horses and drivers. More than seven hundred horses have been attached 
to my sleigh, and drawn me over a road of all degrees of goodness and 
badness. In forty days from Irkutsk I have spent sixteen in the towns 
and villages on the way. I have slept twenty-six nights in my sleigh, with 
the thermometer varying all the way from 35° above zero to 44° below, 
and have passed through four severe storms and perhaps a dozen small 
ones. 

" Including the detour to Barnaool, my sleigh-ride was thirty-six hun- 
dred miles long. From Stratensk around by Kiachta to Irkutsk I trav- 
elled about fourteen hundred miles in wheeled vehicles, so that altogether 
my land journey from the steamboat at Stratensk to the railway at Mjni 
covers a distance of five thousand miles. 

"And now," said Mr. liegeman, in conclusion, "if you want to cross 
Siberia you can do it more easily than when I made the journey. From 

26 



402 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



Perm, which you can reach by steamboat in summer, there is a railway to 
Ekaterineburg, and it will shortly be finished to Tumen, if it is not al- 
ready.* From Tumen take a steamboat to Tomsk, if you don't mind 
roughing it a little, and from Tomsk your land journey need not be terri- 




END OF THE SLEIGH-RIDE. 



fying. You can easily make out the rest of the route by taking my own 
in reverse. Whether you descend the Amoor or cross the Desert of Gobi 
to Peking, you will have enough of novelty to compensate you for the 
fatigue." 

The youths thanked Mr. Hegeman most heartily for the entertaining 
account he had given them of his journey through Siberia. Doctor Bron- 
son added his acknowledgment to that of the youths, and the thoughts of 
the party were again turned to what was occurring around them. 



* Since the above was written, the author has received a letter from M. Nicolai Ostrow- 
ski, Director of the Ural Railway, which says, " Since October 1, 1878, Perm and Ekater- 
ineburg have been united by the Ural Railway. Since January 1, 1886, trains have been 
running regularly between Ekaterineburg and Tumen. A line is under construction from 
Samara to Ufa, which will probably be extended to Ekaterineburg or Tcheliabinsk, to 
form a direct line in the direction of Omsk, the capital of Occidental Siberia." 



A RECEPTION CEREMONY. 



403 



CHAPTEE XX. 

DOWN THE VOLGA AGAIN. — RUSSIAN RECEPTION CEREMONY.— SIMBIRSK, SAMARA, 
AND SARATOV. — GERMAN SETTLERS ON THE VOLGA.— DON COSSACKS.— ASTRA- 
CHAN.— CURIOUS POPULATION.— VOYAGE ON THE CASPIAN SEA.— THE CASPIAN 
PETROLEUM REGION.— TANK-STEAMERS.— INTERESTING FACTS AND FIGURES 
OF THE NEW PETROLLA— PRESENT PRODUCT OF THE BAKU OIL-FIELDS.— EX- 
CURSION TO BALAKHANI, AND VISIT TO THE OIL-WELLS.— TEMPLES OF THE 
FIRE-WORSHIPPERS. — ANTIQUITY OF THE CASPIAN PETROLEUM REGION.— 
MARCO POLO AND OTHER AUTHORITIES. 

WHILE our friends were listening to Mr. liegeman's account of the 
journey through Siberia, the boat was continuing steadily on her 
course down the Volga. One of her passengers was a Russian count on 
the way to his estate, from which he had been absent for nearly two years. 
He had notified his people of his coming, and when the steamer stopped 
at the village where he was to land, there was cpite an assemblage ready to 
meet him. 

Doctor Bronson ascertained that they would remain at the landing an 
hour or more, as there was a considerable amount of freight to be put on 
shore. The party prepared to spend the time on land, and quite unexpect- 
edly Frank and Fred were treated to a curious and interesting spectacle. 
It was the welcome of the count by his people, in accordance with Rus- 
sian custom. 

As he ascended the bank to the village, he was met by a procession of 
men, women, and children. It was headed by four venerable men with 
long, flowing beards, and dressed in the sheepskin coats with which we 
have been made familiar. One of the men in front carried a dish on 
which was a loaf of bread, and his comrade had another dish filled with 
salt. One man of the second couple carried a jug or pitcher of water. 
The Doctor explained to the youths that the presentation of bread, salt, 
and water was a ceremonial of Russian hospitality of very ancient date. 

The men bowed low as they approached the count; on his part he 
urged them to stand upright and regard him as their friend. They halted 
directly in front of him, and then the bearer of the bread spoke in dig- 
nified tones as follows : 



404 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

"We come, most noble master, to give the welcome of our village, and 
present you such food as we can offer, according to the ancient custom of 
our country." 

In a few kindly words the count thanked them for their hospitality, 
and wished that their lives would be prosperous and happy. Then he cut 
a slice out of the loaf of bread and ate it, after dipping it in the salt. Next 
he drank a glass of the water, pouring it from the pitcher with his own 




OFFERING OF THE VILLAGERS. 



hands. When he had finished he again thanked the men for their hospi- 
tality, and asked them to give his good wishes to all the people. This ended 
the ceremony, and the count was then at liberty to enter the carriage that 
stood waiting, and ride to his house, some distance back from the river. * 
Doctor Bronson explained that bread and salt have a prominent place 
in Eussian ceremonials, not only of welcome, but at weddings and on other 
occasions. The bread is invariably the rye or black bread of the country, 
and the guest to whom it is offered would show great rudeness if he de- 



SIMBIRSK, SAMARA, AND SARATOV. 



405 



clined to partake of it. A knife lies on the top of the loaf ; the guest him- 
self cuts the loaf, and must be careful to dip the slice in the salt before 
placing it in his mouth. 

In their descent of the Volga, our friends passed a succession of vil- 
lages on either bank, and occasionally a town or city of importance. The 
day after leaving Kazan they stopped at Simbirsk, the capital of the prov- 
ince of the same name, and the centre of a considerable trade. It is on 
the right bank of the river, and has a population of twenty-five or thirty 
thousand. 

About a hundred miles farther down the Volga is Samara, which gen- 
erally resembles Simbirsk, but is larger, and possesses a more extensive 
commerce. A railway extends from Samara to Orenburg, on the frontier 
of Siberia. On the other side of the Volga Samara is connected with the 
railway system which has its centre at Moscow. With railway and river 
to develop its commerce, it is not surprising that the place is prosperous, 
and has grown rapidly since the middle of the century. 

Mr. Hegeman told the youths that many Swiss and Germans were set- 
tled along this part of the Volga, and he pointed out some of their villages 
as the boat steamed on her course. The Government allows them perfect 
freedom in religious matters, and they have an excellent system of schools 
which they manage at their own expense and in their own way. In other 
respects they are under the laws of the Empire, and their industry and en- 
terprise have had a beneficial effect upon their Muscovite neighbors. The 
first of these settlers came here more than a hundred years ago ; their de- 
scendants speak both German and Russian, and form quite an important 
part of the population. 

Larger than Simbirsk and Samara rolled into one is Saratov, about a 
hundred miles below the city we have just described. It contains nearly 
a hundred thousand inhabitants ; its houses are well built and spacious, 
and its streets are unusually broad, even for Russia. Our friends took a 
carriage-ride through the city, visited several of its sixteen or eighteen 
churches, and passed an hour or more in one of the factories devoted to 
the manufacture of leather goods. 

Frank and Fred thought the churches were fully equal to those of any 
other Russian city they had seen, with the exception of a few of the most 
celebrated, and they greatly regretted their inability to make a fuller in- 
spection of the place. But they consoled themselves with the reflection 
that they had seen the principal cities of the Empire, and the smaller ones 
could not offer many new and distinctive features. 

In the province of Saratov they were on the border of the region of 



406 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

the Don Cossacks, and at some of the landings they had glimpses of this 
primitive people. Their country did not seem to be well cultivated, and 
Doctor Bronson told the youths that the Don Cossacks were more noted 
for skill in horsemanship than for patient industry. They prefer the 
raising of cattle, sheep, and horses to the labor of the field, and though 
many of them have accumulated considerable wealth they have little in- 
clination for luxurious living. 

An amusing scene at one of the landings was the Cossack method 
of shoeing an ox. Frank thus describes it : 

" The poor beast was flung upon his side and firmly held down by half 
a dozen men, while his legs were tied together in a bunch. Then he was 

turned upon his back, so that his feet 
were uppermost, giving the blacksmith 
an excellent opportunity to perform 
his work. The blacksmith's 'helper' 
sat upon the animal's head to keep him 
from rising or struggling ; the unhappy 
ox indicated his discomfort and alarm 
by a steady moaning, to which the op- 
erators gave not the least attention. 

" At a shop in one of the villages 
we bought some souvenirs. Among 
them was a whip with a short handle 
and a braided lash, with a flat piece of 
leather at the end. The leather flap makes a great noise when brought 
down upon a horse's sides, but does not seem to hurt him much ; crackers, 
like those on American and English whips, seem to be unknown here, 
at any rate we did not see any. 

"The handle of the whip is sometimes utilized as the sheath of a 
knife. The one we bought contained a knife with a long blade, and re- 
minded us of the sword-canes of more civilized countries." 

"We stopped at Tsaritsin," said Fred, in his journal, "and had a short 
run on shore. At this point the Volga is only forty miles from the river 
Don, which empties into the Sea of Azof, and is navigable, in time of 
high water, about eight hundred miles from its mouth. There is a rail- 
way connecting the rivers, and also a canal ; the latter is much longer than 
the railway, and was made by utilizing the channels of some little streams 
tributary to the rivers, and connecting them by a short cut. 

"The Don is connected with the Dneiper as well as with the Volga; 
the three rivers form an important part of the great net-work of water 




AT THE MOUTH OF THE VOLGA. 



4:07 



communication with which Russia is supplied. The Dneiper enters the 
Black Sea at Kherson, near Odessa ; next to the Yolga it is the largest 
river of European Russia, and flows through a fertile country, It is about 
twelve hundred miles long, and its navigation w r as formerly much ob- 
structed by rapids and other natural obstacles. Many of these hinder- 
ances have been removed by the Government, but the river has lost some 
of its commercial importance since the railways w T ere established. 

" From Tsaritsin to Astrachan there is not much of interest, as the 
country is generally low and flat, and the towns and villages are few in 
number. Much of the country bordering the river is a 
marsh, which is overflowed at the periods of the annual 
floods, and therefore is of little value except for the past- 
urage of cattle. 

" As we approached the mouth of the Yolga we found 
the river divided into many channels ; in this respect it 
resembles the Nile, the Ganges, the Mississippi, and other 
great watercourses of the globe. On one of these chan- 
nels the city of Astrachan is built. It is not on the main- 
land, but on an island. Another channel passes not far 
from the one by which we came, and maintains a parallel 
course for a considerable distance. 

" Astrachan is the most cosmopolitan city we have seen 
in Russia, even more so than Kazan. The character of its 
seventy or eighty thousand inhabitants may be understood 
when I tell you that it has thirty-seven Greek churches, 
two Roman Catholic, two Armenian, and one Protestant, 
and is the seat of a Greek archbishop and an Armenian 
bishop. Then it has an Indian temple, fifteen mosques, 
and a Chinese pagoda. It has a botanical garden, an eccle- 
siastical school, schools of all the grades peculiar to the large towns of 
Russia, a naval academy, and I don't know how many other institutions. 
Books are printed here in Russian, Tartar, and other languages, and as 
you walk through the bazaars your ears are greeted by nearly all the 
tongues of Europe and Asia. 

" To get at the cosmopolitan peculiarities of the city we were obliged 
to go through narrow and dirty streets, which somewhat marred the pleas- 
ure of our visit. In this respect Astrachan is more Oriental than Rus- 
sian ; its history dates beyond the time of the Russian occupation of the 
lower Yolga, and therefore we must expect it to have Oriental features in 
preponderance. 




408 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



"In commercial matters Astrachan is important, as it stands between 
Europe and Central Asia, and exchanges their goods. Great quantities of 
raw and embroidered silks, drugs, rhubarb, hides, sheepskins, tallow, and 
other Asiatic products come here, and in return for them the Russians 
dispose of cotton and other manufactures suited to the wants of their 

Kirghese and Turcoman subjects 
or neighbors. 

"We are told that there are 
more than a hundred manufactur- 
ing establishments in Astrachan. 
Yast quantities of salt are made 
here or in the immediate vicinity, 
and the fisheries of the Volga and 
the Caspian Sea, which is only 
twenty miles away, are among the 
most important in the world. Un- 
fortunately the harbor is so much 
obstructed by sand that only ves- 
sels of light draught can reach it 
from the Caspian. Since the open- 
ing of the railway connecting the 
Caspian with the Black Sea, much 
of the commerce which formerly 
came to Astrachan is diverted to 
the new route. 

" We landed from the steamer 
and were taken to a hotel which 
promised very poorly, and fully sustained its promise. But any lodging 
was better than none at all, and as we were to remain only long enough 
to get away, it didn't much matter. We breakfasted on the steamer just 
before leaving it, and had no use for the hotel for several hours. 

" In our sight-seeing we went to a Tartar khan, or inn, a large build- 
ing two stories high and built around a court-yard, in accordance with 
the Tartar custom. The court-yard receives wagons and horses, while 
the rooms that front upon it are rented to merchants and others who 
desire them. The master of the place will supply food to those who 
expressly ask for it, and pay accordingly, but he is not expected to 
do so. 

" Travellers pick up their food at the restaurants in the neighborhood, 
and either bring it to their quarters or devour it at the place of purchase. 




ARMENIAN BISHOP OF ASTRACHAN. 



PETROLEUM TRADE OF ASTRACHAN. 



409 



A corridor runs around each story of the khan, and the rooms open upon 
this corridor. 

" Under one of the stair-ways there is a room for the Tartar postilions 
who care for the horses of travellers. With their round caps, loose gar- 
ments, and long pipes they formed a picturesque group around a fire 




A TARTAR KHAN. 



where one of their number was watching the boiling of a pot which prob- 
ably contained their dinner. 

"In the last few years Astrachan has developed quite an important 
trade in petroleum, in consequence of the working of the wells at Baku, 
on the western shore of the Caspian. Steamers and sailing-vessels bring it 
here in immense quantities, and from Astrachan it is shipped by the Yolga 
to all parts of Russia, and also to Germany and other countries. There 
are several machine-shops for the repair of steamships, steamboats, and 
barges engaged in the oil trade. The oil business of the Caspian region 
is growing very rapidly, and promises to make a serious inroad upon the 
petroleum industry of the United States. 

" There is a line of steamers on the Caspian Sea for the transport of 
petroleum ; they are constructed with tanks in which the oil is carried in 
bulk, and their engines are run by petroleum instead of coal. Their ac- 
commodations for passengers are limited, but as the voyage is made in a 



410 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

couple of days we were not particular, and took places on the first vessel 
that offered. 

" Owing to the shallowness of the lower Yolga the oil-steamers, except- 
ing some of the smaller ones, do not come to Astrachan, but transfer their 
cargoes at 'Diavet Foot' (Nine Feet), which is so called from its depth 
of water. Diavet Foot is eighty miles from Astrachan, and on a shoal 
which spreads ont like a fan beyond the mouth of the Yolga. A small 
steamer having several barges in tow took us to the shoal, where we were 




TARTAR POSTILIONS. 



transferred to the Koran, a handsome steamer two hundred and fifty-two 
feet long and twenty-eight feet broad. There was a large fleet of river- 
boats, barges, and sea-steamers at Diavet Foot, and we watched with much 
interest the process of transferring kerosene from the tank-steamers which 
had brought it from Baku to the barges for conveyance up the river." 

An English gentleman, who was connected with the petroleum works 
at Baku, kindly gave the youths the following information : 



OIL-STEAMERS ON THE CASPIAN SEA. 



411 



" There are nearly a hundred steamers on the Caspian engaged in the 
oil traffic. They are of iron or steel, average about two hundred and fifty 
feet in length by twenty-seven or twenty-eight in breadth, and carry from 
seven hundred to eight hundred tons (two hundred thousand to two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand gallons) of petroleum in their tanks. Their en- 
gines are of one hundred and twenty horse-power, and make a speed of 




TARTAR PALACES IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA. 



ten knots an hour ; they use petroleum for fuel, and it is estimated that 
their running expenses are less than half what they would be if coal were 
burned instead of oil. The steamers were built in Sweden or England, 
and brought through from St. Petersburg by means of the canals connect- 
ing the Yolga with the Neva. Some of the largest steamers were cut in 
two for the passage of the canals, the sections being united at Astrachan 
or Baku. 

" The oil-steamers for river work are from sixty to one hundred and 
fifty feet long ; they are fitted with tanks, like the sea-steamers, and are 
powerful enough for towing tank-barges in addition to the transport of 
their own loads. They run from Diavet Foot to Tsaritsin, four hundred 
miles up the Yolga, the first point where there is railway connection to 
Western Europe. Some of them proceed to Kazan, Nijni Novgorod, and 
other points on the upper Yolga, and also through the canals to St. Peters- 
burg, but the greater part of them land their cargoes at Tsaritsin. 

" When you get to Baku you will see how rapidly the loading of the 
steamers is performed. When a steamer is ready for her cargo, an eight- 
inch pipe pours the kerosene into her tanks, and fills her in about four 



412 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



hours. Then she starts for Diavet Foot, where the oil is pumped into the 
river steamers and barges; she fills her. tanks with fresh water, partly in 
order to ballast her properly, and partly because water is very scarce at 
Baku, and then starts on her return. Five or six days make a round trip, 
including the loading and unloading at either end of the route. 

" At Baku the water is pumped into reservoirs, to be used in the refin- 
eries or for irrigating the soil in the vicinity of the works, and then the 




GYPSY FAMILY AT ASTRACHAN. 



steamer is ready for her load again. From Tsaritsin the oil is carried in 
tank-cars similar to those you have in America. I can't say exactly how 
many tank-cars are in use, but think the number is not much below three 
thousand. Twenty-five cars make an oil-train, and these oil-trams are m 
constant circulation all over the railways of Russia and Western Europe/' 
Frank asked if the enterprise was conducted by the Government or by 
individuals. 

"It is in the hands of private parties," said the gentleman, " who are 



RUSSIAN STORAGE DEPOTS FOR OIL. 



413 




AN OIL-STEAMER ON THE CASPIAN SEA. 



generally organized into companies. The leading company was founded 
by two Swedes, Nobel Brothers, who have spent most of their lives in Eus- 
sia, and are famous for their ingenuity and enterprise. The petroleum in- 
dustry of Baku was practically developed by them ; they originated the 
idea of transporting the Baku petroleum in bulk, and the first tank-steam- 
er on the Caspian was built by them in 1879, according to the plans of 
the elder brother. 

" Bear in mind that the Yolga is frozen for four months in the year, 
at the very time when kerosene is most in demand for light. Nobel 




TANKS AT A STORAGE DEPOT. 



Brothers arranged for a system of depots throughout Eussia and Ger- 
many, where oil could be stored in summer for distribution in winter. 
The largest of these depots is at Orel, and there are four other large de- 
pots at St. Petersburg, Moscow, Warsaw, and Saratov. 



414 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

" The depot at Orel can receive eighteen million gallons, and the four 
other large depots about three million gallons each. The smaller depots, 
together with the depot at Tsaritsin, make a total storage capacity of be- 
tween fifty and sixty million gallons of petroleum available for use when 
the Yolga is frozen and traffic suspended. 

" All this was done before the completion of the railway between the 
Caspian and Black seas. The line from Batoum, on the Black Sea, by 




YIEW IN AN OIL REGION. 



way of Tiflis to Baku, on the Caspian, was opened in 1883, and immediate- 
ly about two hundred tank-cars were set to carrying oil to where it could 
be loaded into steamers for transportation to the ports of the Mediterra- 
nean and to England. A pipe-line similar to what you have in America 



COMPETITION OF RUSSIAN AND AMERICAN PETROLEUM. 415 



to connect your oil regions with the seaboard, will probably be established 
before long between Baku and Batoum ; the oil will be pumped from 
Baku to the crest of the pass through the Caucasus Mountains, and from 
there it will run by gravity like a mountain stream down to the shores of 
the Black Sea. There it can be loaded into tank-steamers, or placed in 
barrels for distribution wherever it can find a market. 

"Perhaps I may be building castles in the air," said the gentleman, 
" since I am not of your nationality, but I look upon the European mar- 
ket for American petroleum as doomed to destruction. The Baku petro- 
leum has driven your American product from Russia, and is rapidly driv- 
ing it from the markets of Germany, France, and Austria. We think it 
quite equal to your petroleum, and 
in some respects superior. Ameri- 
can oilmen claim that theirs is by 
far the better article, and as each 
side can bring the opinions of sci- 
entists to prove the correctness of 
its claim, the question resolves itself 
into one of cheapness of production 
and transportation. For the market 
of Europe and Asia we think we 
have a great advantage in being 
nearer to it. It is as far from Ba- 
toum to England as from "New York, 
and therefore you may be able to 
supply Great Britain with petro- 
leum, by reason of the cost of trans- 
portation. 

" Two plans are under considera- 
tion for overcoming the disadvan- 
tages of the closing of the Yolga 
route by ice for one -third of the 
year. Look on the map of Russia 
and see the position of Vladikavkaz 
at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains. The railway reaches that point, 
and it has been proposed to extend it to a connection with the Batoum- 
Baku line at Tinis, a distance of one hundred and ten miles. The line 
would be very costly, as it must run through the Caucasus range; a 
longer but less expensive line would be from Vladikavkaz to Petrovsk, 
on the shore of the Caspian Sea, half way between Baku and the mouth 




BITS FOR DRILLING WELLS. 



416 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

of the Volga. It could be reached in a day. by the tank-steamers from 

Baku, and communication is open for the entire year. 

"Since either of these lines would be useful for strategic purposes as 

well as for commerce, it is probable 

that one or both of them will be built ^ 

within the next few years. They ^ 

would be useful for the supply of Jf . r ^ s 

Eussia and Germany in the winter ? 

season, and render the enormous 

storage depots less necessary than 

they are at present. 

" The Baku petroleum is utilized 
not only for making kerosene, but 
for the manufacture of lubricating 
oils and for liquid fuel for steam- 
ship, railway, and other purposes. 
The oil refuse is burned on the 
steamer, and railways; for the last 
two or three years it has been em- 
ployed by the Tsaritsin-Griazi Rail- 




A SPOUTIMG WELL. 



418 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



way Company in its locomotives, where it has completely taken the place 
of coal. It is the only fuel used by the Trans-Caucasian railway from 
Baku to Batoum and Poti, and wherever it has been tried in competi- 
tion with coal brought from great distances, it has been adopted. I 
wonder you don't make use of it in America." 

Doctor Bronson suggested that probably the reason why liquid fuel 
had not taken the place of coal in America, was in consequence of the rela- 
tive prices of the two substances. " In Russia," said he, " coal is dear ; in 
America it is cheap, and our coal-fields are exhaustless. Three hundred 
thousand tons of coal have been carried annually from England to the 
Black Sea ; it retails there for ten or twelve dollars a ton, which would be 
an enormous price in America. Now what will your petroleum fuel cost 
at Batoum ?" 

" The present price," said his informant, " is twenty-six English shil- 
lings (nearly seven dollars) a ton. Weight for weight, it is cheaper than 
coal ; one ton of it will make as much steam as two tons of coal, and thus 
you see there is an enormous saving in cost of fuel. Then add the saving 
in wages of stokers, the additional space that can be given to cargo, and 
the gain in cleanliness, as the liquid fuel makes neither smoke nor cinders. 

"The Russian Government is making experiments at Sebastopol with 
a view to adopting astahi, as petroleum refuse is called, as the fuel for its 
men-of-war. I predict that as fast as the furnaces can be changed you will 
see all steamers on the Black Sea burning the new substance instead of the 
old. Come with me and see how the liquid fuel works." 

« He led the way to the engine-room of the steamer," said Frank, in 
his journal, " and asked the engineer to show us how the machinery was 
propelled. 

"The process is exceedingly simple. Small streams of petroleum are 
caught by jets of steam and turned into vapor ; the vapor burns beneath 
the boilers and makes the steam, and that is all. The flow of steam and 
oil is regulated by means of stopcocks, and steam can be made rapidly or 
slowly as may be desired. 

« Our friend told us that a fire of wood, cotton-waste, or some other 
combustible is used to get up steam at starting. This is done under a 
small boiler distinct from the main ones, and it supplies steam for the 
4 pulverizer,' as the petroleum furnace is called. 

« When steam is on the main boilers the small one is shut off and the 
fire beneath it is extinguished. Even this preliminary fire is rendered un- 
necessary by a newly invented furnace in which a quantity of hydro-carbon 
gas is kept' stored and in readiness. We were told that the action of the 



AX^RIVAL AT BAKU. 



411) 



pulverizer is so simple that after the engineers have adjusted the flame at 
starting and put the machinery in operation, they do not give them any 
attention till the end of the voyage. One stoker, or fireman, is sufficient 
to watch all the furnaces of a ship and keep them properly supplied with 
astaki." 

A good many additional details were given which we have not space to 
present. The study of the petroleum question occupied the attention of 
the youths during the 
greater part of the voy- 
age, and almost before 
realizing it they were 
entering the Bay of 
Baku, and making ready 
to go on shore. 

Frank and Fred were 
astonished at what they 
saw before tliem. Baku 
is on a crescent -shaped 
bay, and for a distance 
of seven or eight miles 
along its shores there is 
a fringe of buildings on 
the land, and a fringe of 
shipping on the water. 
Thirty or forty piers jut 
from the land into the 
bay ; some of the piers 
were vacant, while others 
had each from three to 
half a dozen steamers re- 
ceiving their cargoes or 
waiting their turns to be 
filled. Not less than fifty steamers were in port, and there were several 
hundred sailing craft of various sizes and descriptions riding at anchor or 
tied up at the piers. It was a busy scene— the most active one that had 
greeted their eyes since leaving the fair at Nijni Novgorod.' 

They landed at one of the piers, and were taken to a comfortable hotel 
facing the water, and not far away from it. The youths observed that 
the population was a cosmopolitan one, quite equal to that of the fair- 
grounds of Nijni ; Eussians, Armenians, Turcomans, Kirghese, Persians, 




AN OIL REFINERY WITH TANK CARS. 



420 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



Greeks, all were there together with people of other races and tribes they 
were unable to classify. The streets were filled with carts and carriages 
in great number, and they found on inquiry that almost any kind of vehicle 
they desired could be had with little delay. 

Doctor Bronson and his young friends had visited the petroleum region 
of their own country, and very naturally desired to see its formidable rival 




They learned that the wells were eight or ten miles from Baku, and as it 
was late in the day when they arrived, their visit was postponed till the fol- 
lowing morning. 

Securing a competent guide they engaged a carriage, and early the next 
day left the hotel for the interesting excursion. We will quote Frank's 
account of what they saw : 

« We found the road by no means the best in the world," said the 
youth, " as no effort is made to keep it in repair, and the track is through 
a desert. On our right as we left Baku is the Chorney Gorod, or Black 
Town, which contains the refineries ; it reminded us of Pittsburg, with 
its many chimneys and the cloud of smoke that hung over it. Then 
we crossed the track of the railway, and the lines of pipe that supply the 
refineries with oil. Right and left of us all over the plain there are 
reservoirs and pools of petroleum ; there are black spots which indicate 
petroleum springs, and white spots denoting the presence of salt lakes. 
By-and-by we see a whole forest of derricks, which tells us we are nearing 
Balakhani, the centre of the oil-wells. 

« Passing on our left the end of a salt lake five or six miles long, we 
enter the region covered by these derricks, and our guide takes us to the 
Droojba well, which spouted a stream of petroleum three hundred feet 
high when it was opened. Two million gallons of petroleum were thrown 
out daily for a fortnight or more from this one well, and two months after 



BANKRUPTCY FROM " STRIKING OIL." 



421 



it was opened it delivered two hundred and fifty thousand gallons daily. 
Our guide said it ruined its owners and drove them into bankruptcy ! 

" You will wonder, as we did, how a discovery that ought to have made 
a fortune for its owners did exactly the reverse. We asked the guide, and 
he thus explained it : 

"'The Droojba Company had only land enough for a well, and none 
for reservoirs. The oil flowed upon the grounds of other people, and be- 
came their property. Some of it was caught on waste ground that be- 
longed to nobody, but the price had fallen so low that the company did 
not realize from it enough to pay the claims of those whose property was 




ANCIENT MOUND NEAR THE CASPIAN SEA. 



damaged by the debris that flowed from the well along with the petro- 
leum. In this region considerable sand comes with the oil. The sandy 
product of the Droojba well was very large, and did a great deal of dam- 
age. It covered buildings and derricks, impeded workings, filled the res- 
ervoirs of other companies or individuals, and made as much havoc gener- 
ally as a heavy storm.' 

" The process of boring a well is very much the same as in America, 
and does not merit a special description. The diameter of the bore is 
larger than in America ; it varies from ten to fourteen inches, and some 

27* 



422 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

of the wells have a diameter of twenty inches. Oil is found at a depth 
of from three hundred to eight hundred feet. Every year the shallow 
wells are exhausted, and new borings are made to greater depths ; they 
are nearly always successful, and therefore, though the petroleum field 
around Balakhani is very large, the oil speculators show no disposition to 
go far from the original site. To do so would require a large outlay for 




CURIOUS ROCK FORMATIONS. 



pipe-lines, or other means of transporting the product, and as long as the 
old spot holds out they prefer to stick to it. 

« Our guide said there were about five hundred wells at Balakhani ; 
there are twenty-five thousand wells in America, but it is claimed that 
they do not yield as much oil in the aggregate as the wells in this region. 

" From the wells the oil is conducted into reservoirs, which are nothing 
more than pits dug in the earth, or natural depressions with banks of sand 
raised around them. Here the sand in the oil is allowed to settle ; when 
it has become clear enough for use the crude petroleum is pumped into 
iron tanks, and then into the pipe-lines that carry it to the refineries in 
Chorney Gorod. 

« Some of the ponds of oil are large enough to be called lakes, and 
there are great numbers of them scattered over the ground of Balakhani. 



A VISIT TO BALAKHANI. 



423 




MODERN FIRE- WORSHIPPERS— PARSEE LADY AND DAUGHTER. 



The iron cisterns or tanks are of great size ; the largest of them is said to 
have a capacity of two million gallons. 

" There is no hotel, not even a restaurant, at Balakhani, and we should 
have gone hungry had it not been for the caution of the hotel-keeper, who 
advised us to take a luncheon with us. The ride and the exertion of walk- 
ing among the wells gave us an appetite that an alderman would envy, 



424 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



and we thoroughly enjoyed the cold chicken, bread, and grapes which we 
ate in the carriage before starting back to the town. We reached the 
hotel without accident, though considerably shaken up by the rough road 
and the energetic driving of our Tartar coachman." 

While Frank was busy with his description, Fred was looking up the 
history of the oil-wells of Baku. Here is what he wrote concerning 
them : 

"For twenty-five hundred years Baku has been celebrated for its fire- 
springs, and for a thousand years it has supplied surrounding nations and 
people with its oil. From the time of Zoroaster (about 600 b. c.) it has 
been a place of pilgrimage for the Guebres, or Fire-worshippers, and they 
have kept their temples here through all the centuries down to the pres- 
ent day. At Surukhani (about eight miles from Baku and four or five 
from Balakhani) there are some temples of very ancient date ; they stand 
above the mouths of gas -wells, and for twenty centuries and more the 
Fire-worshippers have maintained the sacred flame there without once al- 
lowing it to become extinct. On the site of Baku itself there was for 
centuries a temple in which the sacred fire was maintained by priests of 
Zoroaster until about a. d. 624. The Emperor Heraclius, in his war 
against the Persians, extinguished the fires and destroyed the temple. 

" Since the eighth century, and perhaps earlier, the oil has been an 
article of commerce in Persia and other Oriental countries. Kead what 
Marco Polo wrote about it in the thirteenth century : 

" ' On the confines of Georgine there is a fountain from which oil 
springs in great abundance, inasmuch as a hundred ship-loads might be 
taken from it at one time. This oil is not good to use with food, but 'tis 
good to burn, and is used also to anoint camels that have the mange. Peo- 
ple come from vast distances to fetch it, for in all countries there is no 
other oil.' 

" It is probable that the good Marco means camel-loads rather than 
ship-loads — at least that is the opinion of most students of the subject. 
The fire-temple of the Guebres is a walled quadrangle, with an altar in 
the centre, where the fire is kept ; the sides of the quadrangle contain 
cells where the priests and attendants live, and in former times there were 
frequently several thousands of pilgrims congregated there. We were 
told that the place would not repay a visit, and therefore we have not 
gone there, as we are somewhat pressed for time, and the journey is a 
fatiguing one. 

" For a considerable space around the temple there are deep fissures 
in the ground whence the gas steadily escapes. Before the Russians occu- 



A TANK ON FIRE. 



425 




A BURNING TANK. 




426 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

pied the country there was an annual sacrifice by the Fire-worshippers. A 
young man was thrown into one of the fissures, where he perished, though 

some writers assert that he leaped vol- 
untarily, through the persuasion of the 
priests. 

"Though famous through many 
centuries, and carried thousands of 
miles east and west for purposes of 
illumination, the oil of Baku was never 
gathered in large quantities until the 
present century, and the exploitation 
of the oil-fields on a grand scale is an 
affair of the last twenty years. 

"In 1820 it was estimated that the 
yield of the Baku oil-wells was about 
four thousand tons of naphtha, of 
which the greater part was sent to 
Persia. The annual production re- 
mained about the same until 1860, 
when it was 5484 tons; in 1864 it 
was 8700 tons ; in 1870, 27,500 ; and 
in 1872, 24,800 tons. Down to that time the Government held a monop- 
oly of the oil-fields, and levied a royalty for operating them. In 1872 
the monopoly was removed, and the 
lands were offered for sale or long 
lease. 

"There was a rush of specula- 
tors to the oil fields, stimulated by 
the knowledge of what had been ac- 
complished in America. Sixty-four 
thousand tons were produced in 
1873, 94,000 in 1875, 242,000 in 
1877, 420,000 in 1880, 800,000 in 

1883, and over 1,000,000 tons in 

1884. In 1885 the total quantity of 
raw petroleum pumped or received 
from the wells was 105,000,000 
poods, or nearly 2,000,000 tons. 
Twenty -seven million poods, or 

nearly 500,000 tons, were distilled at Baku. The largest portion, two- 



A FALL IN OIL. 




1USE IN OIL. 



SHIPMENTS OF OIL FROM BAKU. 



427 



thirds at least, was sent off by sea to Astrachan, and thence up the Volga, 
to be forwarded by tank-cars for distribution to all parts of Russia and 
to Baltic ports, and thence to Germany and England. About 7,250,000 
poods have been shipped by the Trans-Caucasian Railway to Batoum, on 
the Black Sea, going thence to the Danube, to Odessa, to Marseilles, and 
some by the Suez Canal to India and China. Every day large trains of 
tank-cars leave Baku via Tiflis for Batoum, and a pipe-line from Baku to 
Batoum may be looked for before long. 

"Down to 1870 the oil was taken from pits which were dug like ordi- 
nary wells ; boring began in that year on the American system, and the 
first bored well went into operation, the oil being pumped out by the ordi- 
nary pumping machinery. 

" The first flowing well, or fontan (fountain), as it is called here, was 
struck in 1873. In that year there were only seventeen bored wells in 
operation, but by the end of 1874 there were upward of fifty. The flow- 
ing wells cease to flow after a time, varying from a few weeks to several 
months ; one well spouted forty thousand gallons of oil daily for more than 
two years, and afterwards yielded half that amount as a pumping well. The 
history of many wells of this region is like a chapter from the 'Ara- 
bian Nights.' 

"We are in the midst of oil, and shall be as long as we remain at 
Baku. There are pools of oil in the streets ; the air is filled with the 
smell of oil ; the streets are sprinkled with oil, as it is cheaper and better 
than water ; ships and steamers are black and greasy with oil, and even 
our food tastes of oil. Everybody talks oil, and lives upon oil (figurative- 
ly, at least), and we long to think of something else." 



428 



THE BOY TKAVELLEKS IN THE EUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

\ GLANCE AT CENTRAL ASIA.-RUSSIAN CONQUEST IN TURKESTAN. WAR AND 
DIPLOMACY AMONG THE KIRGHESE TRIBES. — RUSSIAN TAXES AND THEIR COL- 
LECTION-TURCOMAN AND KIRGHESE RAIDS.— PRISONERS SOLD INTO SLAVERY. 
-FORTIFIED VILLAGES AND TOWERS OF REFUGE. — COMMERCE IN TURKESTAN.— 
JEALOUSY OF FOREIGNERS. — TRAVELS OF VAMBERY AND OTHERS. VAMBERY'S 
NARROW ESCAPE.— TURCOMAN CHARACTER.— PAYMENTS FOR HUMAN HEADS. 
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS AMONG THE TURCOMANS. — EXTENT AND POPULATION OF 
CENTRAL ASIA. 



W 



HEN our friends had completed their study of the Petrolia of Eu- 
rope they looked around for new worlds to conquer. Being in 
Eussia, they followed Eussian tendencies, and turned their eyes in the di- 
rection of Central Asia. 

"Wouldn't it be a splendid trip," said Frank, "to go through Central 
Asia to India and the Far East? How long would it take, and would it 
be very expensive ?" 

« I' m afraid there would be too many difficulties in the way," replied 
the Doctor, with a smile, " In the first place the Eussians are not inclined 
to allow men of other nationalities to see what they are doing in the dis- 
puted country between their possessions and those of the English. They 
would treat us very politely, but, in one way and another, would keep us 
from crossing Afghanistan to the English lines. We should not be wel- 
come visitors among the English in Northern India. Most of them regard 
Americans as more friendly to Eussia than to England in whatever con- 
cerns Central Asia, and the English officials in the disputed country would 
not aid our movements." 

" What would be our facilities for travelling, supposing we met with 
no official opposition V\ 

" Starting from Baku," replied the Doctor, " we could cross the Caspian 
to Mikhailovsk in a steamer in from sixteen to eighteen hours. Mikhai- 
lovsk is in what was once the Turcoman country, but is now Eussian terri- 
tory. It was permanently occupied in 1869, and since that time Eussia 
has been extending her possessions until she is now at the borders of India, 



RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY IN CENTRAL ASIA. 



429 



with only a narrow strip of territory between the English possessions and 
her own. 

" From the time of Peter the Great to the present," the Doctor con- 
tinned, "Russia has been steadily pressing farther and farther into Asia. 
If inclined to be a punster, I should say she has advanced steppe by steppe ; 




CAMP SCENE NEAR THE ALTAI MOUNTAINS. 

the Kirghese and Turcoman steppes have been conquered one after anoth- 
er — sometimes by fighting, and sometimes by diplomacy, but more fre- 
quently by a skilful combination of both forms of conquest. The Russians 
have a thorough knowledge of Asiatic people, probably because they have 
so much Asiatic blood in their own veins, and in their dealings with the 
savage or half-civilized natives of this vast country they manage things 
much better than the English do. 

" A large part of the Kirghese country was won without actual fight- 
ing, though with military assistance. It was generally in this wise : 

" Two tribes might be at war with each other, and Russia, after some 
negotiation, would come to the aid of the weaker. The presence of a 



430 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



Russian battalion of cavalry would be quite sufficient to frighten the 
stronger tribe into keeping the peace, as its chief would understand that 
resistance might cost him his dominions. Having made matters quiet, the 
Russian commander would propose to leave, and let the chief whose cause 
he had been espousing take care of himself. 

" The chief would then see for the first time the uncomfortable situa- 
tion he would be in with the retirement of his ally ; the stronger tribe 
would assail him, and be all the more bitter against him on account of his 
alliance with the Russians. He begged the Russians to stay. After some 




A KALMUCK PRIEST. 

hesitation they consented, provided the management of affairs was handed 
over to them. They generally received what they wanted, and then pro- 
ceeded to conquer the other tribe and make themselves master over both. 

" Sometimes the Russians follow another policy ; they establish them- 
selves with the weaker tribe, make peace between the two factions, and 
then build a fort and coolly announce that they will remain permanently. 
The tribes find it useless to resist, and thus they become subject to Rus- 
sia." 

" Don't the English accuse the Russians of stirring up trouble among 
the Kirghese and Turcoman tribes, so as to have an excuse for interfer- 
ence ?" one of the youths inquired. 



RUSSIAN MILITARY EXPEDITIONS. 



431 



" 1 believe they do," the Doctor answered. " The Eussians indignant- 
ly deny that such is the case ; of course they would deny it, even if con- 
fronted with unquestionable proof. 

" They have sent a great many military expeditions into Central Asia 
in the last fifty years. For a long time their base of operations was at 




SCENE ON THE EDGE OF THE KIRGHESE STKPPE. 

Orenburg, on the frontier of Siberia, but latterly it has been transferred 
to the shores of the Caspian. Orenburg is now far in the rear, and its 
chief use is as a military post, from which order is maintained among the 
Kirghese. 

"Some of the Eussian expeditions have turned out disastrously, but 
they have always followed a disaster by a triumph. In one expedition 
every man was killed, captured, or perished of starvation or thirst in the 
desert, but immediately another army was put in motion, and the Eussians 
more than recovered the prestige they had lost. The list of the battles 
fought in Central Asia is a long one, but longer still is the list of blood- 
less conquests made through Eussian diplomacy. 

" Khanates, chieftaincies, and principalities have been absorbed by Eus- 
sia in her southward and eastward march over the steppes and along the 
valleys of the rivers. The cities of Tashkend, Samarcand, Khiva, Kokan, 



432 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

and Bokhara, have passed from the flag of the intolerant Moslem to that 
of the tolerant Eussian, and with the cities have gone the khanates and 
principalities of which they were the capitals." 

Fred asked if the subjugation of these territories had been beneficial to 
their inhabitants or not. 

"In every way it has been a benefit to them, and none of those who 
are peaceably disposed would care to return to their old condition. The 
Russian yoke is easy upon the necks of the inhabitants; the Russians 




KIRGHKSE GROUP. 



make no interference with the religion, laws, manners, and customs of the 
people, excepting where they are manifestly crnel or tyrannical; they al- 
low the natives to do exactly as they like, protect them m the possesion 
of their property, give them facilities of trade never before enjoyed, and 
in every way better their condition. 

"In place of the outrageous taxes formerly levied by the Moslem au- 
thorities whenever the khan or his officials wanted money, the Russians 
have a fixed annual tax which is never above the easy ability of the sub- 
ject to pay: it is generally asserted that the taxes in Asia are much light- 
er than those of European Russia, to make sure that there shall be no dis- 
content among the people. The Russian Government requires that every 
subject shall pay a tax, not so much for the value of the article received 
as an acknowledgment of subjection. 

"In the settled portions of Russia the tax is payable in money but in 
the wilder regions taxes are collected ' in kind.' On the shores of the Arc- 



COLLECTING THE TAXES. 



433 



tic Ocean and through all the northern part of Siberia the yessak, or tax, 
is one fox-skin ; in Kamtchatka it was formerly one sable-skin, but since 
the increase in the price of the fur, one skin is received for every four in- 
habitants, who arrange the division among themselves. In some of the 
grain-growing parts of the Empire the tax is paid in grain ; on the Amoor 
River it is paid in fish, an* among the Kirghese and Turcomans it is paid 




KIRGHESE CHIEF AND FAMILY. 



in cattle, sheep, or horses, which constitute the circulating medium of tne 
country. 

" In return for this tax, and provided the new subject in Central Asia 
behaves himself, he has the protection of a powerful government. The 
Russian Government has its faults, but it is immeasurably superior to the 
old way in which these countries were ruled. 

"By the religion of the Moslem might makes right, and this was the 
foundation of the governmental system of the Kirghese and Turcoman 
tribes, together with the khanates previously mentioned. Robbery was a 
recognized means of making a living ; not robbery by detail, as practised 
by highwaymen and burglars, but wholesale robbery in which entire tribes 
were concerned. Many thousands of people lived by raiding, and the raid 

28 



434 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 




CARAVAN IN RUSSIAN TERRITORY. 



was as legitimate a way of acquiring property as selling goods in a shop 
and making a profit on them." 

Frank and Fred made an exclamation of surprise as the Doctor con- 
tinued : ' , 

" The Kirghese who occupy the region immediately south ot the Al- 
tai Mountains* and are still found on the southern confines of the Baraba 
Steppe, are broken into many independent tribes; they are nomadic m 
their habits, wandering from place to place in search of pasturage for their 
immense flocks and herds. In winter they frequent the valleys among 
the outlying hills of the Altai Mountains, and in summer descend upon 
the plains. & Many of the tribes live altogether on the plains, and then- 
range covers many thousands of square miles. 



RUSSIAN COMMERCE DEVELOPED. 



435 



"Quarrels were numerous among them, chiefly growing out of dis- 
putes about pasturage or water, and these are the quarrels in which the 
Russians interfered, both in the interest of humanity and the spread of 
their power. Frequently these disputes led to raids for purposes of plun- 
der; quite as frequently one tribe would make a raid on another with 
which it was at peace for the sole object of robbery. 

" Attacks were generally made at night, and if they were successful 
the robbers would drive off the flocks and herds of the tribe assailed. 
Men, women, and children were taken to be sold into slavery in the mar- 
kets of Khiva and Bokhara, or kept among their captors. These slaves 
were treated with the greatest cruelty ; they were severely beaten for the 
slightest offence or failure to perform what had been ordered, were poorly 
fed, and often compelled to wear chains. They were generally maimed 
for life, by means of a horse-hair run through the heel, in order to prevent 
their escape from captivity. 

" All this business was brought to an end by the Russians when they 
occupied the Kirghese country. They compelled the tribes to live peace- 
fully with each other, and if any dispute arose about water or pasturage it 
was referred to the Russian commander of the district for adjustment. 
If one tribe made a raid on another it was compelled to give up the stolen 
property, and furthermore a heavy fine was levied upon the raiders — half 
going to the Russian Government and half to the injured tribe. The 
Russians generally made the fine heavy enough to furnish a percentage 
for the officers who took the trouble to adjust the differences. 

" Russian goods were introduced among these nomadic people, mar- 
kets were opened, and every facility was offered for the increase of 
commerce. Long caravans were constantly in motion between Orenburg, 
Sempolatinsk, and other points in Russian territory, and Khiva, Bokhara, 
and Samarcand, far to the east. They traversed the Kirghese and Tur- 
coman country, and wherever they went they found a material difference 
in the matter of safety, whether the territory was under Russian rule or 
remained independent. If the latter, the caravans were constantly liable 
to attack and plunder ; if the former, they were invariably free from 
molestation. 

" The capture of Bokhara, Samarcand, and Khiva reduced the slave- 
markets of the Turcoman raiders, but by no means put an end to their 
plundering expeditions. The independent Turcomans were estimated to 
be about a million in number, divided into several tribes, who sometimes 
warred upon each other, but constantly upon the Persians and other peace- 
able people. In the wars between Khiva and Bokhara, Samarcand and 



436 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

Kokan, they took sides with those who would pay the most for their serv- 
ices. ^ , . , , 

« Down to very recently the whole of Northern Persia was subject to 
Turcoman raids, and agriculture was carried on under great difficulties* 




1GI1ESE RAID ON A HOSTILE TRIBE 



The raids were sometimes carried up to within a hundred miles of Teheran, 
or about live hundred miles inside the Persian boundary. They were or- 
ganized months beforehand, and sometimes as many as five or six thon- 

* la an article io Hake's Magazine for March, 1886 Mr William Simpson an 
English artist and journalist, who went to the Afghan frontier with the Boundary ^Com- 
mission says it is only within a couple of years that the raiding was brought to an end. 
Se tanltly credits Russia with the suppression of the raiding system, and says she de- 
serves the thanks of the civilized world. 



TURCOMAN RAIDS. 



437 



sand men were engaged in a single enterprise. A raid was called a < cha- 
pow' by the Persians ; in the Turcoman language it was an 'alaman.' 

" A Turcoman leader would announce his intention of making an ala- 
man, but the route was always kept secret through fear of betrayal. The 
Turcomans are splendid horsemen, and while organizing an expedition they 
put their steeds under a system of training to enable them to make long 
and swift marches whenever occasion required. When everything was 
ready the party started ; it travelled slowly until it reached the Persian 
frontier, and was often weeks on the way. 

" Passing the frontier, the hard work of the campaign began. The 
region selected for the raid was reached as soon as possible ; then the in- 
vading force was divided into small parties, and each had a particular vil- 
lage assigned to it. Their movements were made so as to catch the people 
at work in the fields, and capture the cattle before they could be driven 
into a place of safety. Not only the cattle, but all the men, women, and 
children that could be seized were taken. The old and useless were 
slaughtered without mercy ; the young or able-bodied were carried off, to 
be sold into slavery. A wealthy Persian was. held for a heavy ransom, but 
a poor man had no chance of redemption. 

" The plundering was kept up as long as there was anything to steal, 
and then the expedition returned to its own territory. Sometimes in a 
single raid as many as a hundred thousand horses, sheep, goats, and other 
animals were captured, and a thousand or more people were carried into 
slavery." 

Frank asked if the Persian Government made no provision for the pro- 
tection of its people. 

" Very little," replied the Doctor; "the Persian troops were in the 
cities and large towns, which the Turcomans never attacked, and as there 
was no telegraph through the country, the raiders almost invariably got to 
a safe distance before a pursuit could be started. Very often the Persian 
officials on the frontier connived at the raids, and the people were forced 
to rely upon themselves for protection." 

" In what way could they do anything against the robbers ?" was the 
very natural query that followed this statement. 

" Their villages are built of mud, and may be called forts," the Doctor 
replied. " The walls are from twenty to thirty feet thick, and about forty 
in height ; they form a quadrangle, or circle, where cattle can be driven 
at night, and there is only a single door- way, too low to permit the pas- 
sage of a man on horseback. The raiders never stop to besiege a place ; 
all their work is done by a sudden dash, and the Turcoman would never 



438 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

think of dismounting to pass the low door-way. Inside there is a stone 
door which may be closed to prevent ingress; it is thick and strong, and 
once inside of their mud village the people are safe. 

"Here is a picture of one of these villages," said the Doctor; "it is 
called Lasgird, and is about a hundred miles east of the capital of Persia, 



H, ' M?>kV ,!| Hill! I 




, ;;„' ' !.n — J- 





LASGIRD— A FORTIFIED VILLAGE IN NORTHERN PERSIA. 



You will observe that there is a double tier of dwellings on the top of the 
circular wall ; the enclosed space accommodates the cattle and other live- 
stock of the village, and is also utilized for the storage of grain. On the 
outside, near the^top, there is a balcony made of projecting timbers cov- 
ered with branches of trees ; it has no outer railing, and must be a very 
unsafe place for a promenade. Inside of such a retreat the people had 
nothing to fear, as the Turcomans have no artillery and did not care to 
stay long enough to batter down the walls." 

Fred remarked that it must be difficult for those at work in the fields 
at any distance to get to the village before they were overtaken by the 
raiders on their swift horses. 

"So it is," was the reply, "and to further protect themselves they had 
towers of refuge in their fields, where they could run in case of danger. 
Some of the towers had ladders on the outside which were drawn up as 



PERSIANS AND TURCOMANS. 



430 



the Turcomans approached, while others were entered by narrow door-ways 
similar to those of the villages. On the hills there were signal-towers 
where watchmen were stationed ; when the dust of an approaching alaman 
was seen, the watchmen gave warning and the people fled for safety." 

" What a life to lead !" said one of the youths. " Always apprehensive 
of danger, and never knowing when the murderous Turcomans might 
come !" 

" It was much like the life of the early settlers of New England," said 
the Doctor, " when the Indians were liable to come at any moment, and 
the men carried their guns to church on Sunday. The same condition of 
things has continued until quite recently on our western frontier, and still 




TOWER OK REFUGE. 



exists in a few places in Texas and New Mexico. But the difference is 
that in our country it never lasted for many years in any one place, while 
in Persia the situation was the same for centuries. 

" These Turcoman thieves hampered agriculture in the way I have de- 
scribed, and they also restricted commerce by plundering the caravans. 
Merchants travelled with an armed escort and in large numbers. Even 
this did not save them from attack, as a great caravan was unwieldy, and 
often the robbers would dart in and seize a few camels laden with mer- 
chandise while the escort was so far away in another part of the line that 
it could not rush to attack the marauders until they had finished their work 
and departed. And remember that for centuries trade has followed this 
dangerous route ! 

" A curious thing about these raids is that the departure of a plunder- 



440 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

ing expedition was always accompanied by religions ceremonies. The 
Mollahs, or Moslem priests, gave their blessing to the thieves, and prayed 
for Allah's favor upon the enterprise. When the party returned laden 

with plunder, and driving slaves 
and stolen cattle in great num- 
ber, the same priests offered 
prayers in thanks for Allah's 
blessing, and a portion of the 
proceeds of the expedition was 
set apart for the cause of re- 
ligion." 

" Then they must be of a 
different religion from the Per- 
sians," Fred observed, " as they 
would not be likely to make 
war upon people of their own 
faith." 

" Unfortunately for your theory, that was not the case," the Doctor an- 
swered. " Persians and Turcomans are all Moslems ; they have different 
sects, just as have the adherents of the Christian religion, but in a general 




FRAMEWORK OF TURCOMAN TENT. 




THE TENT COVERED. 



way they may be said to be of the same faith. Moslems make war 
upon each other with very little hesitation ; the only thing in which 
they appear to be united is in their hatred of all other religions than 
their own." 

« I suppose they have not received travellers with any courtesy," said 



ENGLISH EXPLORERS IN TURKESTAN. 



441 



Frank. " Do they permit foreigners to visit their country and study its 
character V ■ 

66 Not at all," was the reply, "if they can prevent it, and they are not 
at all particular about the mode of prevention. Of course, since the 
country was occupied by Kussia there has been a change in this respect, 
and under Kussian protection a stranger may travel there with comparative 
safety. 

" In former times most of the Europeans who ventured into Turkes- 
tan (the collective name for the countries of Central Asia) paid the penal- 
ty of their temerity with their lives. Kussians, Englishmen, Germans, 
and others perished, and not one explorer in ten returned to tell the story 
of his travels. Two English ambassadors, Colonel Stoddart and Captain 
Conolly, ventured into Bokhara about 1840, and were murdered, the for- 
mer after four years' imprisonment, and the latter after a twelvemonth. 




INTERIOR OF TENT. 



"Stoddart was repeatedly tortured, and finally was promised his free- 
dom if he would embrace the Moslem religion. To save his life he con- 
sented, and went through the required ceremony ; the Emir of Bokhara 
continued to torture him, and finally ordered the heads of both Conolly 
and Stoddart to be cut off in the public square of Bokhara. 

" Stoddart was executed first, and then the Emir offered Conolly his 
freedom if he would become a Moslem. 'No,' said he, 'I prefer to die. 
Stoddart became a Moslem and you have killed him. Go on with your 
work.' The Emir nodded to the executioner, and the work of execution 
was completed. 

" Wood, another Englishman, who went to Bokhara to ascertain what 



442 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



had become of Stoddart and Conolly, was imprisoned for some time, and 
narrowly escaped with his life. A more fortunate explorer was Arminius 
Vambery, a Hungarian, who travelled through Central Asia disguised as a 
dervish from Constantinople. At the very outset of his journey he was 
obliged to wait for three-quarters of a year in Teheran before he could 
find the right kind of party to travel with. In his character of dervish 
he associated with pilgrims like himself, who wished to visit the Moslem 




YAMBERy'S RECEPTION BY TURCOMAN CHIEF ON THE CASPIAN SHORE. 



shrines of Bokhara and Samarcand. They were twenty-four in number, 
and nearly all of them were distinguished for their poverty. They in- 
tended to' beg their way through the country and back again ; Yambery 
had a little money, which he carefully concealed, as it would not be in ac- 
cordance with his assumed character of dervish to be known to have any 
ready cash. 

" From Teheran they went north to the Turcoman country, which then 
extended westward to the shores of the Caspian Sea. On landing, they 



A GHASTLY SPECTACLE. 



443 




444: THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

were greeted by the Turcoman chief who ruled in that district; he was 
very hospitable, and entertained them for a whole month merely for the 
sake of having visitors. t 

"In a caravan of Turcoman horsemen they journeyed to Khiva, cross- 
ing a desert region where for days they had only the water they carried 
on their saddles. They fell short of water, and while their suffering was 
severe they were relieved by the chief of the caravan, who had an extra 
store concealed in his baggage. As he doled it out to the pilgrims he said 
it had always been his custom to carry an extra supply of water while 
crossing the desert, and distribute it when most needed. But this same 
man had proposed a few days before to leave Yambery to perish in the 
desert, on the mere suspicion that he was a European in disguise. 

« Vambery gives an excellent description of the Turcoman character, 
which has been fully confirmed by other travellers, and later by the Kus- 
sian conquerors of Turkestan. They are honest in their dealings with 
each other, and often display much tenderness ; at the same time they are 
the most brutal of slave-masters and man-stealers, and capable of the sever- 
est cruelty. Yambery says that one day a Turcoman said it was a sin to 
destroy a basket in the desert, because it had once been the seat of a man 
on a camel ; the same man denied a drop of water to a slave whom he had 
fed on salt-fish for two days, and his delight at the suffering of his victim 
was equal to that of a countryman over the antics of a clown at a circus. 

" Some of the tribes, in their wars with each other, cut off the heads of 
those whom they slay in battle, and bring them home as trophies; Yam- 
bery happened to be present in Khiva when, one day, the Khan's treasurer 
was paying for human heads. As each warrior came forward he emptied 
his sack on the ground, and an accountant made note of the number of 
skulls and the name of their owner. 

"The payment was not in money, but in robes of honor, which were 
of different colors, according to the number of slain to each warrior's cred- 
it Some received the robe of forty heads, others the robe of twenty, and 
others that of ten, five, or four. It was like the different degrees of the 
decorations awarded by the rulers of the nations of Europe, or the rewards 
of merit issued by a school-teacher to diligent and well-behaved pupils 

"Another time Yambery was in the public square of Khiva when 
about three hundred prisoners of war were brought in. They were sepa- 
rated into two divisions, those who had not reached their fortieth year, and 
were to be sold as slaves or given as presents, being placed in one category. 
They were chained together and led away, and then the old men were 
brought forward for punishment ; and what do you suppose it was? 




TURCOMAN TROPHY — A RUSSIAN HEAD. 



446 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

"These gray-bearded old men were tied hand and foot and placed flat 
on their backs on the ground. Then their eyes were gouged out, the exe- 
cutioner kneeling on the breast of each to perform his dreadful work. 
Each time when he finished with a victim he deliberately wiped his knife 
on the latter's flowing beard. V&mbery says the scene will make him 
shudder as long as he lives, and no wonder. _ 

"And yet he found the people of Khiva full of pious charity, lhe 
same khan who had ordered this cruel treatment of prisoners of war, 
loaded the supposed dervish and his companions with presents, and showed 
them every kindness. When Vambery left in the direction of Bokhara, 
he was mounted on a good donkey, and had plenty of clothing, provisions, 
and money, which had been given him by the faithful. 

" V&mbery says he one day asked a robber who was noted for piety, 
how he could sell his brother religionists into slavery. The robber re- 
plied that the holy book, the Koran, was certainly more precious than 
man, and yet it was bought or sold for a few small coins. He added that 
Joseph, the son of Jacob, was a prophet, but was sold into slavery without 
being any the worse for it. His argument was forcible, and the stranger 
concluded it was best not to oppose it." 

Frank asked how the women of the Turcoman tribes were treated by 

their lords and masters. 

"Women among the Turcomans have an inferior position, as in all 
Moslem countries," the Doctor replied. " They are far more the slaves of 
their husbands than their equals ; sometimes they are treated with great 
kindness, but more frequently their lives are fall of hardship. They per- 
form most of the labor of the camp and village, the men being chiefly oc- 
cupied with the care of the flocks and herds, making expeditions for the 
sake of plunder, or warring on neighboring tribes. 

"Husbands sell their wives as they sell cattle or sheep, and the poor 
creatures have no redress for their wrongs. A husband buys his wife 
from her parents, and she has very little voice in the transaction ; the 
price is generally based upon the social standing of the parties, and the 
ability of the purchaser to pay for the property. Among nearly all the 
nomad tribes of Turkestan the marriage ceremony includes a race for the 
bride • the game is called KohUri (green wolf), and is decidedly interesting. 

« The girl is mounted on a swift horse, and carries the carcass of a lamb 
before her on the saddle. She is given a certain start in advance of the 
bridegroom and his friends; they follow on horseback, and unless the 
bridegroom can take the lamb from her hands during the race the matcli 
is ' off ' She makes a show of resistance, and generally leads the party a 



WOMEN OF TURKESTAN. 



447 



long distance, but the affair having been negotiated beforehand, is pretty 
sure to end in the surrender of the lamb. In some tribes the girl must be 
lifted from the saddle by the bridegroom, who carries her on his own 
horse back to the point of starting. 

" There is this difference in the treatment of the women of Turkestan 
and those of most other Moslem countries," the Doctor continued, " that 




KOKBURI A RACE FOR A BRIDE 



they are not required to cover their faces. In Turkey, Egypt, and Arabia 
the Moslem woman who leaves her face uncovered commits an act of great 
impropriety, but this is not the case in Turkestan. Many of the women 
are quite pretty in their youth, but their good looks do not last long. The 
men are of good height and figure, and their manners are grave and digni- 
fied. The hair and beard are dark, and the complexion may be set down 
as a light shade of brown." 

Frank asked how many tribes and people were included in Turkestan 
or Central Asia, and how great was the population. 



448 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

" That is a very difficult question to answer," said the Doctor, " in fact 
it is impossible to do so exactly. The census-taker is unknown in Central 
Asia, except in the cities and towns ; even there he does not enumerate 
the whole population, but only the heads of families and the men capable 
of bearing arms. Turkestan includes all the country between the Caspian 




VIEW OF THE CITADEL OF KHIVA. 



Sea and the 110th degree of longitude east, and from Siberia southward 
to Persia, Afghanistan, and Thibet. Turkestan* means ■< The land of the 
Turks.' On the maps it is generally divided into Eastern and Western 
Turkestan, the former lying partly in the Chinese Empire, and the latter 
covering the vast plain of the Caspian and Aral seas. The population is 
variously estimated at from eight to twelve millions. Russia has absorbed 
nearly all of Western Turkestan, and the Russian officials think they have 
at least eight millions of people in their new possessions. 

u The tribes and provinces are divided and subdivided so that they are 
not easy to name. Western Turkestan was formerly known as Indepen- 



COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 



449 



dent Tartary, and comprises the Turcoman steppes, the khanates of Khiva, 
Bokhara, Samarcand, and Kokan, together with Balkh and some smaller 
provinces which are in dispute between Kussia and Afghanistan. These 
disputes have led to quarrels between Eussia and England/ and quite like- 
ly will lead to war at no distant day. 

" The people dwelling in Turkestan are mainly of the Turkish race ; 
their language is Turkish, and the country was the seat of the race that 




AN OZBEK HEAD. 



spread its boundaries by a career of conquests, which did not stop until it 
entered Europe and pressed as far westward as the walls of Vienna. Brief- 
ly we may say the inhabitants of Turkestan are Ozbeks or Uzbeks (the 

29 



450 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

dominant race), Turcomans, Kirghese, Karakalpaks, Tajiks, Persians Kip- 
chats and a few Arabs, Hindoos, and Jews. The Ozbeks are the most civ- 
ilized people of the country, and are mainly settled in the cities and towns; 
they fill most of the official positions, and their leading families can trace 
their descent for centuries. The Persians are mostly descended from 
those who have been stolen by the Turcomans and sold into slavery and 
the Arabs, Hindoos, and Jews may be regarded as wanderers who have 
been drawn there by business or accident. 

"I have already told yon something of the Kirghese, whose country 
was the first to be absorbed by Knssia. The other people of Turkestan 
besides those just mentioned are not sufficiently numerous or important to 
deserve special description. If yon wish further particulars yon will find 
them in Schuyler's 'Turkestan,' Vambery's 'Travels m Central Asia 
< History of Bokhara,' and Shaw's < High Tartary, Yarkand, and Kashgar. 

The conversation was interrupted by a gentleman who called to ask 
if Doctor Bronson and his young friends would like to make a trip to the 
other side of the Caspian Sea. A steamer was to leave in two or three 
hours for Mikkailovsk, and the next morning would see them landed _ m 
the country where, until quite recently, the Turcomans reigned and robbed 

^ The invitation was promptly accepted, and when the steamer left Baku 
our friends were among her passengers. What they saw and heard will 
be told in the next chapter. 



ACROSS THE CASPIAN. 



451 



CHAPTER XXII. 

FRANK AND FRED IN THE TURCOMAN COUNTRY.— THE TRANS-CASPIAN RAILWAY. 
— SKOBELEFF'S CAMPAIGN, AND THE CAPTURE OF GEOK TEPE. — ENGLISH JEAL- 
OUSY OF RUSSLAN ADVANCES. — RIVERS OF CENTRAL ASIA. — THE ONUS AND 
JAXARTES.— AGRICULTURE BY IRRIGATION. —KHIVA, SAMARCAND, AND BO- 
KHARA.— A RIDE ON THE TRANS-CASPIAN RAILWAY. — STATISTICS OF THE 
LINE.— KIZIL ARVAT, ASKABAD, AND SARAKHS.— ROUTE TO HERAT AND INDIA. 
—TURCOMAN DEVASTATION. — THE AFGHAN BOUNDARY QUESTION.— HOW MERV 
WAS CAPTURED. — O'DONOVAN AND MACGAHAN : THEIR REMARKABLE JOUR- 
NEYS.— RAILWAY ROUTE FROM ENGLAND TO INDIA.— RETURN TO BAKU. 

OIJE young friends were up early, in their eagerness to see the country 
of the Turcomans. They found themselves looking at a compara- 
tively flat region, quite in contrast with the chain of the Caucasus, that 
filled the horizon to the west of Baku, and interposed a formidable bar- 
rier between the Caspian and Black seas. The steamer headed into a 
narrow bay which formed the harbor of Mikhailovsk, the new town 




MAP SHOWING THE RELATIONS OF RUSSIA AND ENGLAND IN THE EAST. 



452 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

whence the Trans-Caspian Railway takes its departure in the direction 

of India. 

Everything indicated the newness of the place. Houses, barracks, 
piers, railway-station, all were new, and many of the houses were not even 
finished. Eussian soldiers and Russian officers were numerous in the 




SAND-STORM IN THE DESERT. 



crowd at the landing-place, and there were scores of mujrks bnsily en- 
gaged in handling goods destined for the railway or for the steamers but 
they did not by any means have a monopoly of the labor market of Mi- 
khailovsk. Tartars, Kirghese, Turcomans, Persians, and other Asiatics were 
there in considerable numbers. They appeared to be quite as industrious 
as the mujiks, and every way as keen to scent a job wherein money was to 

be earned. m , ,, 

It is an interesting circumstance that the Turcomans, now that they 
are forbidden to indulge in raiding, have turned their attention to steady 



THE TRANS-CASPIAN RAILWAY. 



453 



industry, and promise to make good citizens. Whatever may be their 
faults, they are not a lazy people ; they gave up their raiding habits very 
unwillingly; but when once convinced that they must live\y industry, 
they seem to have accepted the situation. 

Mr. Ivanovich, the gentleman who invited our friends to cross the Cas- 
pian, was connected with the management of the Trans-Caspian Railway, 
as the line from Mikhailovsk is called. During the voyage from Baku 




TURCOMAN COURT OF JUSTICE. 

he gave the youths an account of the building of the railway, and matters 
connected with it, of which Frank made the following notes': 

"The Trans-Caspian Kailway," said Mr. Ivanovich, "owes its existence 
to a military necessity that arose in 1879. When the Eussians first occu- 
pied the Turcoman country they built fortifications, and settled down to 
stay. General Skobeleff always claimed that we made a great mistake in 
doing so; the Government did not think it safe to make a movement 
directly into the Turcoman country, and consequently several years were 
occupied in doing what Skobeleff thought should have been done in one. 
The Turcomans knew nothing about regular warfare, and we might have 
crushed them in a little while with our trained battalions. But we waited 
so long that they learned how to fight, partly through our own instruction, 
and then it required the best of fighting to defeat them. 

"It looked at one time as if the Turcomans would altogether prevent 
us from getting any foothold in their country beyond the shores of the Cas- 
pian. Skirmishes almost without number occurred, in which sometimes 
the Russians and sometimes the Turcomans had the best of the contest. 



454 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

Skobelefi, then a captain, was one of those who landed at Krasnovodsk in 
1869 He made more snccesses in the fighting with the Turcomans than 
anybody else; but in 1873 he was called away in the campaign against 
Khiva, and from that time to 1879 nothing of moment was accom- 

^'""In' 1878 Tekme Sardar, a Turcoman chief, submitted to the Kussians, 
and was received into their camp at Krasnovodsk. He remained there 
several months, and then, for some real or fancied injury, fled from the 




KIRGHESE TOMB. 

camp, and collected his followers with the determination to make war on 
ZLaders. At a place called Geok Tepe he formed a junction w.th 
other chiefs, and established a camp. 

"Tekme Sardar had made good use of his eyes durmg Ins stay among 
ns He showed his people how to build forts. About forty thousand 
Turcomans, with their families, collected at Geok Tepe, and threw up an 
immense earthwork exactly like the defences bunt by the Russians. Gen, 
eral Lomakin advanced against this earthwork in 1879, and after a ser.es 
of skirmishes outside the walls he attacked the Turcomans m ^ their ^strong- 
hold, and was severely repulsed. He retired to the shores of the Casp.au, 
and thus ended the campaign for that year. 

« General Skobelefi was then appointed to the command of the Turco 




CHARGE OF RUSSIAN CAVALRY AGAINST TURCOMANS. 



456 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

man district, and the Government told Him lie could have anything he 
wanted in men or munitions of war. 

« The Government had a hundred miles of railway material somewhere 
on its south-western frontier, which was intended for use in case of the 
failure of the Berlin Congress. Skobeleff asked for this material, and it 
was at once transferred to the Caspian. He changed the base of opera- 
tions from Krasnovodsk to Mikhailovsk, and at once began the construc- 
tion of the line. The whole movement was made so quietly that hardly 
anything was known of the work until the track had been laid about half- 
way to Kizil Arvat, one hundred and forty-four miles from Mikhailovsk. 

« Skobelefl 2 could not wait for the completion of the railway. While 
the road was being constructed he pushed forward to Bami, a strong point 
in the Akhal oasis, where he built a fort, and gradually collected the ma- 
terials for the siege of Geok Tepe. When everything was in readiness he 
advanced and began the siege, which lasted fully a month. 

" Perhaps the following figures will interest you: The Eussians were 
between eight and ten thousand strong, of all arms, infantry, cavalry, and 
artillery. The artillery comprised sixty-nine guns, while the Turcomans 
had no cannon to oppose them with. When the siege began, Skobeleff 
found that his cannon made little impression upon the clay walls of the 
fort, so he ordered his artillery to fire over the walls and into the enclosed 
space, in order to demoralize the people within as much as possible. In 
fighting against Asiatics, artillery always has a prominent part. Its moral 
effect in frightening them is certainly ten times as great as its destructive 
power. 

"During the siege the artillery fired from one hundred to five hundred 
shots daily, and the infantry used from ten thousand to seventy thousand 
rounds of ammunition in the same time. Skobeleff sunk a mine under the 
rampart,, and exploded more than a ton of gunpowder at a single blast. It 
made a wide breach, through which the Eussian army poured into the fort, 
with very little opposition on the part of the Turcomans. The latter fled 
in the direction of Merv, but were pursued by the Eussian cavalry. The 
slaughter is said to have been fearful, and the Eussians say that twenty 
thousand Turcomans perished in the siege and capture of Geok Tepe. 
During the assault and pursuit the infantry fired 273,804 rounds, the cav- 
alry 12,510, and the artillery 5,864 ; 224 military rockets were also used * 

" Many careful students of the history of Central Asia," continued Mr. 
Ivanovich, " consider the siege and capture of Geok Tepe the most im- 



* Marvin's " The Russians at the Gates of Herat. ,: 



A NIGHT MARCH. 



458 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

portant victory ever achieved by the Russians in Turkestan. It opened 
the way for the Eussian advance to the frontier of India, and carried the 
boundaries of the Empire southward to those of Persia. In the interest of 
humanity it was of the greatest importance, as it broke up the system of 
man-stealing and its attendant cruelties which the Turcomans had prac- 
tised for centuries. The people of Northern Persia no longer live m con- 
stant terror of Turcoman raids ; the slave-markets of Central Asia are 
closed, and doubtless forever." 

Frank asked if the English Government was as well pleased with the 
result of the siege as were the Russians. 

Mr Ivanovich said he did not know exactly how the English regarded 
the victory, but from the tone of their press and the utterances of British 
statesmen, he did not think they would have mourned if the Russians had 
been repulsed. "England," said he, "is jealous of Russian advances m 
Turkestan. Lord Salisbury believed that the Turcoman barrier against 
Russia would last his lifetime, and many other English statesmen and offi- 
cers shared his belief. , . „ . 

"No doubt they were very sorry for the sufferings of the Persians, 
who were sold into slavery after seeing their homes plundered and their 
fields devastated, but I question if they were willing, for political reasons 
to see the Turcomans wiped out as they were at Geok Tepe. I think I 
have read much more in the English papers about the loss to English com- 
merce by the Russian occupation of Central Asia than of the gain to 
humanity by the suppression of the Turcoman raids. 

"The interests of British trade are the first consideration of the liritish 
statesman Many thousands of Africans and Asiatics have died by Brit- 
ish' bullets and sabres that the commerce of England might be extended. 
Unless I mistake the temper of the British Government, I am afraid that 
the advisers of the Queen would prefer the old state of things to the new 
on the Turcoman steppes. The sale of a thousand bales of Manchester 
cottons in the bazaars of Turkestan is of more consequence to England 
than the enslavement of a thousand Persians and the desolation of their 

h °'" e But that is wandering from the subject," said Mr. Ivanovich, with a 
smile " I may be prejudiced, but can't help regarding England as a dis- 
turber of the peace all over the world, whenever the disturbance will bene- 
fit her trade. She doesn't believe in monopoly, except where she can be 
the monopolist, and for that reason she is jealous of the way we Russians 
are trying the monopoly business for ourselves. We have the trade of ten 
millions of Asiatics: no great thing to be sure, but we don't propose to 



{ 



RIVERS OF TURKESTAN. 459 

hand it over to England just because she wants it. We have cotton fac- 
tories and other manufacturing establishments, as England has, and the 
more markets we can have the better it will be for us." 

The gentleman paused, and gave Ered an opportunity to ask if there 
were, any navigable rivers in Turkestan, and, if so, what they were. 

" There is no navigation worth the name," was the reply. " Central 
Asia contains only two rivers of any importance — the Oxus and the Jax- 




WINTER CAMP IN TURCOMANIA. 

artes. The Oxus is sometimes called the Amoo Darya, or Jihoon, and the 
Jaxartes the Syr Darya. The Oxus is the largest ; it rises in the Pamir 
district, in a lake fifteen thousand feet above the sea, and in the upper 
part of its course receives several tributary rivers that drain Bokhara and 
the north-eastern part of Afghanistan. It is about twelve hundred miles 
long, and flows into the Aral Sea ; for the last eight hundred miles of its 
course it is navigable for small steamboats, but its mouth is divided into 
so many shallow channels that boats have great difficulty in entering it. 
The Russians have half a dozen steamers on the Aral Sea, and as many 
more light-draught steamboats for navigating the Oxus." 

" Haven't I read that the Oxus formerly emptied into the Caspian 
Sea ?" said Frank. 



460 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



" Quite likely you have," said Mr. Ivanovich, " as there is little doubt 
that such was the case. The old bed of the Oxus can be distinctly traced, 
and geographers are generally agreed that the river entered the Caspian 
by three mouths. Ptolemy and Strabo both state distinctly that in their 
time the Oxus flowed into the Caspian, and formed the principal trade- 
route between Europe and Asia." 

" How came it to change its course ?" 

"Much of the region traversed by the Oxus is a desert, and the only 
agriculture possible there is by irrigation. In order to increase the area 




TURCOMAN IRRIGATING WHEEL. 



under cultivation, the Turcomans built dams that turned the Oxus in the 
direction of a vast plain which contains the Aral Sea. Since the occupa- 
tion of the country by the Russians, it has been proposed to return the 
Oxus to its ancient bed, and bring it down to the Caspian. It is not like- 
ly that this will be done, as the result would be that the whole lower 



462 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



course of the Oxus, where there are many nourishing farms and gardens, 
would again become a desert waste. Much less water flows through the 
Oxus than in former times, and the engineers who have studied the ques- 
tion do not think the river would be navigable when returned to its an- 
cient bed. 

"The other river of Central Asia, the Jaxartes, or Syr Darya, is small- 
er than the Oxus, and about eleven hundred miles long. It rises in the 
Pamir region, and empties, like the Oxus, into the Aral Sea. Its course is 
generally parallel to the Oxus, and in the same way it fertilizes a large area 




K HIV AO 



o TASHKENT 



'.ASTRAB^D 



SARAKHS 
HE SEED 



SCALE 
ENGLISH 



P E R S 8 A 

MAP 
OF THE 

BUSSO-AFGHAK 
REGION. 



MTT. T.S 



60 100 150 £00 




oCABULi 



oCAKDAIIAR 



oQTJETTA 



of what would otherwise be desert. Its volume has greatly diminished in 
the last few centuries, and is even known to be considerably less than it 
was sixty or eighty years ago. The Oxus enters the southern end of the 
Aral Sea, while the Jaxartes comes in considerably farther to the north. 
The diversion of these two rivers would probably result in drying up the 
Aral Sea, a shallow body of water two hundred and fifty miles long by 
half as many wide." 

Fred asked if the Caspian was higher or lower than the Aral Sea. 

" They are of the same level, or nearly so," was the reply, " though 



KAIL WAY TRAVEL IN CENTRAL ASIA. 



463 



some engineers say the Aral is about one hundred and fifty feet higher 
than the Caspian, and the indications are that the two seas were formerly 
connected. The whole plain of Turcomania is thought to have been at 
one time an inland sea. At its southern extremity the Aral is bordered 
by an immense marsh, and it is through this marsh that the Oxus dis- 
charges its waters. 

" Khiva stands near the Oxus, in the midst of beautiful gardens, all 
nourished by the water from the river. Khiva, Bokhara, Samarcand, and 
Kokan would become masses of ruins if the Oxus and Jaxartes were dried 
up, and you may be sure the Russians will give the subject careful con- 
sideration before disturbing the course of the waters. Nowhere in the 
world will you see more careful irrigation than along these rivers, with the 
possible exception of the Nile valley. All through Central Asia the only 
possible agriculture is upon the watercourses, or where there are never- 
failing wells. Canals and irrigation-wheels are everywhere, and you will 
often see evidences of excellent engineering abilities in the construction 
of some of the artificial water-ways. 

" General Annenkoff, the officer in charge of the construction of the 
Trans-Caspian Railway, has a scheme for creating a new oasis, capable of 
supporting two hundred thousand people, near the disputed boundary be- 
tween Turkestan and Afghanistan. He proposes to turn one of the trib- 
utaries of the Oxus for that purpose, and is confident that he can make a 
fertile area of several hundred square miles by carefully utilizing the wa- 
ter of the stream." 

On landing at Mikhailovsk, our friends were introduced to several Rus- 
sian officers, some of whom had been in America, and who heartily wel- 
comed the trio of travellers from that far-away land. They were invited 
to the club-house, where they were lodged and cared for; the town did 
not boast an hotel other than a very indifferent khan, which had all the 
discomforts of the Orient, with none of its good points. 

Frank and Fred endeavored to find the time-table of the railway, with 
a view to making an excursion into Turkestan. Their inquiries were re- 
warded with the information that there was no regular time for running 
the trains, as the business transacted on the line was nearly all of a mili- 
tary character. But a train was to leave in the morning for Kizil Arvat, 
one hundred and forty-four miles, and if they cared to make the journey 
they were at liberty to do so. 

Finding they would have time to go to Kizil Arvat and return before 
the departure of the steamer for Baku, they accepted the invitation, which 
included the Doctor as well as themselves. Early the next morning the 



46± 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



train rolled out from the station ; it consisted of a locomotive and ten or 
twelve carriages. One carriage contained the officers of a regiment of in- 
fantry that filled the remaining vehicles ; the regiment was bound for the 
frontier, where England and Eussia have latterly been discussing the ques- 




TURCOMAN WOMAN SPINNING. 

tion of the boundary, and a discussion of this kind is materially assisted 
by the presence of soldiers. _ 

We will refer to Fred's account of the railway journey in Turkestan. 

"We were invited to seats in the carriage where the officers were rid- 
ing Thev did everything to make our journey agreeable, and we were 
indebted to them for a great deal of information about Central Asia. 



SCARCITY OF WATER. 



4G5 



Some of them had been to the British frontier, and one had visited Cabul, 
Herat, and Candahar. 

" The route of the railway was partly across the desert, and partly 
along the valleys of two or three small rivers of no special importance ex- 
cept for their usefulness in supplying water for the line. For a consider- 
able distance the line lies near the Etrek, a river that was of great use to 
General Skobeleff in his advance upon Geok Tepe. At times it is simply 
a dry channel, but water can generally be found by digging a few feet in 
the sand that forms, in the rainy season, the bed of the stream. 

"The country is a plain, with here and there a few hills not w T orthy to 
be called mountains. Sometimes the plain is flat for a long distance, and 




again it is undulating like the rolling prairies of our Western States. Veg- 
etation is scanty at best, and a large part of the country is absolutely des- 
ert. The great need of Central Asia is water. If a million springs could 
be opened, all giving a copious flow like some of the great springs in our 
Rocky Mountains, the next ten or twenty years would see a great change 
in the aspect of Turkestan. 

" One of the officers told me that the country was of the same general 
character all the way to the frontier of Afghanistan. ' The railway can 
be extended without trouble,' said he, ' as far as we wish to carry it. 
There's not an obstacle at all formidable to railway engineers.' 

" I asked, with some hesitation, where they wished to carry their rail- 
way line. I knew the subject was not disconnected with politics, but the 

30 



466 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



question was innocent enough, and he could answer it as he chose, and 
probably did. 

" < We built the line,' said he, ' first to Kizil Arvat, one hundred and 
forty-four miles, and then extended it to Askabad, one hundred and ten 
miles farther. We are now building to Sarakhs, one hundred and eighty- 
five miles from Askabad, and there we may stop. Perhaps it will be 
pushed on to Herat, two hundred and two miles from Sarakhs, but it can- 




THE NEW RUSSO- AFGHAN FRONTIER. 



not be under the present political situation. Afghanistan is under English 
control. You know the English Government gives the Ameer of that 
country a large annual payment of money for his friendship ; and until we 
are willing to give a higher bribe he is not likely to permit us to build 
railways in his territory. 

« < From Sarakhs our next line will be to Merv, the rich oasis that came 
under Kussian control a few years ago, or possibly Merv may be reached 
by a branch from Askabad. Perhaps there will one day be a line from 
Merv to Samarcand and Bokhara, but this is far in the future. From 
Merv a railway may be run along the valley of the Murghab to Herat ; 
but it is not a direct route, and we are much more likely to reach Herat 
by way of Sarakhs, along the valley of the Heri-Kud. Whichever way 



RUSSIAN RAILWAY ENTERPRISES. 



467 



we take, the building of the road would not be at all difficult. The 
Murghab route has the disadvantage of being longer than that of the 
Heri-Bud, but its cost per mile would be much less, as the country is 
smoother. 

" ' I suppose,' he continued, < that there is a sort of race between Eng- 
land and Eussia to get to Herat with a railway. England is building 
north from India, while we are building south from the Caspian. The 
terminal points of the two lines are now less than eight hundred miles 
apart, and it is very evident that the English and Russian locomotives will 
be whistling in the hearing of each other, and blowing steam in each oth- 
er's faces, within the next few years. * 

" 6 If we were not confronted by diplomacy we could reach Herat con- 
siderably in advance of the English, as we have the shorter and easier line 
to build to get there. But with our scrupulous regard for treaties and 
agreements, we may be hindered in our railway building, and have the 
mortification of seeing our rivals there ahead of us. The English consider 
Herat the key to India, and are determined that we shall not possess it. 
We don't care much for it anyway, but are perfectly willing to place it 
beneath the sheltering wings of the Black Eagle. 



* Early in 1886 the Central Asian Railway was completed to Kaakha, a distance of 590 
versts (390 miles) from Mikhailovsk. The line was completed to Merv in April, 1886, and 
the echoes of the Turcoman oasis were awakened by the shriek of the locomotive. At the 
latest advices work was being pushed between Merv and Chard juya, on the Oxus, and 
General Annenkoff had promised to complete the line to the banks of the historic river be- 
fore the end of the year. The Emir of Bokhara has agreed to provide the material for a 
bridge across the Oxus, and the Russian engineers have completed the survey of the line 
as far as Samarcand. It is hoped that the railway will reach Bokhara and Samarcand by 
the end of 1887. The entire railway as planned will extend from Mikhailovsk, on the Cas- 
pian, by way of Kizil Arvat (245 versts), Askabad (445 versts), Kaakha (590 versts), to Merv 
(770 versts, or 510 miles): thence to Chardjuya, on the Amoo Darya (Oxus), and Bokhara 
to Samarcand, a total distance of 1065 versts (700 miles), of which no less than five-sev- 
enths is practically now completed. All the rails, sleepers, and rolling material for the 
Trans-Caspian Railway are supplied from the Russian Crown depots. Apart from this, 
the total cost of making the line from the Caspian to the Oxus is estimated at 12,250,000 
roubles, or about 16,000 roubles per verst. 

The Russians have a grand scheme for another line of railway through Asia, which was 
originally proposed by M. de Lesseps. The first step would be to complete the railway 
connection along the lower Volga, between Tsaritsin and Astrachan. The Asiatic line 
would start from Astrachan, pass through Khiva, Bokhara, and Samarcand into Chinese 
Turkestan, where it would touch Tang-Kissar, Kashgar, and Yarkand, in addition to other 
cities and towns of lesser note. It would skirt the shores of Lake Lob, and after descend- 
ing the valley of the Kan (Han) terminate at Hankow, on the banks of the Yang-tse- 
Kiang, six hundred miles above the mouth of the great river of China. 



468 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

" < When you are considering Sarakhs,' he continued, < remember that 
there are two places of that name. Old Sarakhs is a mass of ruins ; only 
a single building remains, and that is a tomb in which the body of Abel is 
said to rest. Another tomb a few miles away is known as the tomb of 
Cain, and there is a tradition that the Garden of Eden was in the neigh- 
borhood of Sarakhs. The Russians have occupied Old Sarakhs, and will 
establish a military post there of considerable importance as soon as the 
railway is completed. 

'"Old Sarakhs is near the Heri-Rud River, which here forms a dividing 
line between Persia and the Turcoman country. The Persians have built 




OLD SARAKHS. 



a town called New Sarakhs on their side of the river, and protected it by 
a fort • they keep a small garrison there, and as we have no quarrel with 
Persia' and are not likely to have, it is quite sufficient for all purposes of 

Pea ?fc I wis h y ou could go with me through that country and see the ef- 
fect of the Turcoman raiding system which was continued through gener- 
ations, and has only recently come to an end. Centuries ago the valleys of 
the Murghab and Heri-Rud contained a large population, and the same was 
the case over a wide extent of country. 

"'Ride where you will, you find the traces of irrigating canals in great 
number In the third century this region was said to contain a thousand 
cities, probably an exaggeration, but indicative of the dense population it 
sustained, and might still sustain. In many places the valleys of the Mar- 
ffbab and Heri-Rud are several miles in width and perfectly fiat. I here 
are ruined canals all over these wide places, showing that they were once 
cultivated; they might be cultivated again and rendered fertile as of old 
by the same system that was once in vogue. The country is a desert be- 
cause it is not tilled, and it is not tilled because it has no inhabitants. Tur- 



LIFE AMONG THE TURCOMANS. 



469 



coman raids have made the desolation by enslaving, killing, or driving awaj 
the people that once lived here. 

" ' Since the raiding ceased the Sarik Turcomans, who were formerly 
as much addicted to it as any 
others, have turned their atten- 
tion to agriculture. They have 
occupied parts of the Murghab 
Valley near Pul-i-Khisti and 
Ak Tapa, where they have 
cleared out the old irrigation 
canals, set their ploughs and 
other implements at work, and 
seem to be forgetting altogeth- 
er their former mode of life. 
They have settled into villages, 
but live in kibitkas in prefer- 
ence to houses of mud or other 
solid materials. Considering 
their recent subjugation, they 
are quite friendly with the 
Russians ; they know we will 
never allow them to resume 
their predatory life, but as long 
as they behave themselves they 
will find us to be kind masters, 
and our military and engineer- 
ing work in their country will 
assure them a good market for 
their surplus produce.' 

" I asked the gentleman to 
tell me the difference between 
Pul-i-Khisti and Pul-i-Khatun, 
which we had read so much 
about in the newspapers, at the 
time of the conflict between 
the Russians and Afghans. 

" ' Pul-i-Khatun is on the 
Heri-Rud or Tejend River, a 

few miles south of Sarakhs. In the Persian language " pul " means bridge, 
and " khatun " lady, so that Pul-i-Khatun may be translated " Bridge of 




SARIK TURCOMAN WOMAN. 



470 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

the Lady." The bridge that bears this name is said to have been erected 
in the time of Tamerlane, the great conqueror, at the request of one of 
the ladies of his family. It is of brick, in six arches, and has not been 
repaired for a long time ; the central arch is broken, but the others are 
in serviceable condition. 

"< Pul-i-Khisti means "Bridge of Bricks," and is over the Murghab 
River, where that stream unites with the Kushk. It became famous as 
the scene of the fight between the Russians and Afghans, in the early part 





PUL-I-KHISTI AND AK TAPA. 

of 1885 Each party throws the blame of the affair upon the other ; nat- 
urally enough I think the Afghans were at fault, but as I may be preju- 
diced on the subject it is not worth while to discuss it. Pul-i-lvhisti is 
close to Penideh, which is nothing more than a mass of rums where a 
town once stood; the Kussians may be able to make something out of it, 
aud the next time I go there I shouldn't be surprised to find a strong fort. 

'"The English wanted to make the boundary so that it would leave 
Penideh in the possession of the Afghans, but we persuaded them that 
the place would be safer in our hands than theirs. You will find on the 
map the boundaries as they have been arranged, and as long as England 



THE ROAD TO HERAT. 



471 



keeps to her agreement there is not likely to be any trouble. Of course 
we shall faithfully abide by our promises, but one can never tell when the 
treacherous Afghans will cross the boundaries and make depredations upon 
our peaceful subjects. Then we will defend our rights ; it is for such de- 
fence we have built the railway on which you are now travelling, and we 
shall maintain a good-sized force of troops on or near the frontier. By 
means of our railways and steamers we can get to the frontier a great deal 
quicker than England can possibly reach it from her capital ; and if she 
chooses to make war on us she will find us ready. 

" ' With the Vladikavkaz Railway finished to Petrovsk on the Caspian, 
and the Trans-Caspian Railway completed to Sarakhs, we could bring 
troops from Moscow to the latter point inside of a week. There would 




PENJDEH. 



only be the crossing of the Caspian, which is little more than a ferry, be- 
tween Petrovsk and Mikhailovsk, to break the continuous journey by rail. 
From Sarakhs to Herat, as I before said, is about two hundred miles, which 
could be covered in two or three weeks by a Russian army. We think we 
can get to Herat more quickly than England can in case of war, but let us 
all hope that the necessity for the experiment may never come.' " 

Fred thought there was a confident smile on the face of the Russian as 
he pronounced the above words. It was very evident that the Russians 
in Central Asia had an abiding faith in their ability to take care of them- 
selves in case of a conflict with England. 



472 . THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



While conversing with another officer, the youths ascertained that he 
had accompanied the first Russian expedition to the Merv Oasis, or rather 
the expedition that converted that stronghold of the Turcomans into Rus- 
sian territory, with the loss of only one man. The gentleman said the 
Oasis was watered by the Murghab, which practically terminated there ; 
the river was diverted into a great number of little streams, and the coun- 
try included in these streams 
formed the Oasis. The Mer : 
vis were more peaceable than 
their fellow Turcomans, but 
very jealous of strangers, and 
not willing to admit anybody 
to their limited territory. 

They had a fort larger and 
stronger than the one against 
which Skobeleff's army was 
nearly shattered to pieces at 
Geok Tepe ; it was an enclos- 
ure with high, thick walls of 
mud, and large enough to hold 
the whole population with 
their nocks and herds. The 
Oasis is about one hundred 
and twenty miles from Aska- 
bad and ninety from the near- 
est point on the Tejend. ; it was 
formerly incorporated with 
the surrounding provinces of 
Turkestan, but for many years 
has been independent. 
« We wanted Merv," said the Russian officer to whom allusion has just 
been made, "but we didn't want to fight for it; so we resorted to diplo- 
macy, and through the skill of General Komaroff and Colonel Aliklianoff, 
aided by a few others who were in the secret, we came into peaceful pos- 
session of the place. I have no doubt the Mervis are all very glad we are 
there, now that the thing has been done. 

" Colonel AlikhanofT went from Askabad to Merv in company with a 
Russian merchant who had a dozen camels laden with goods. They re- 
mained there a fortnight, and then returned safely, accompanied by several 
delegates from the Mervis who wished to consult with the Russian com- 




COLONEL AL1KHANOFF. 



FROM MERV TO HERAT. 



473 



mander at Askabad about some camels that had been stolen from them by 
the Persians. The delegates were kindly received, and went home with 
a favorable report which ultimately led to the occupation of Merv by a 
small force of Russian cavalry and infantry. A fort was built, and a ba- 
zaar opened for the exchange of Russian goods for the products of the 
Oasis, and ever since then the Russians and Mervis have been on terms of 
friendship. Of course there were some of the Mervis who opposed the 
advent of our soldiers, but they are now our earnest advocates, and would 
be the last to ask us to leave. 

" Merv is about two hundred and forty miles from Herat, and if we 
should ever be obliged to march against that Afghan stronghold, the 




THE GREAT HIGHWAY OF CENTRAL ASIA. 



Oasis will be an excellent point to start from after accumulating the neces- 
sary stores and material of war. It promises to be a good centre of trade, 
and its importance was easy to comprehend when the English Government 
made such a fuss as it did about our taking it. 

" Before we were established there," continued the officer, " an English 
newspaper correspondent, Edmund O'Donovan, went to Merv by way of 



474 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

Persia, and lived in the Oasis for five months. At first the people treated 
him coldly, but he gradually won their confidence and convinced them of 
his friendliness. They made him one of their elders, and appointed him 
to a place on the Governing Council ; he has told the story of his resi- 
dence among these strange people in an interesting volume entitled 'The 
Merv Oasis.' 

u One of the most remarkable journeys ever made on the Turcoman 
steppes," said the gentleman in conclusion, " was accomplished by another 
newspaper correspondent, an American named MacGahan, during the cam- 
paign against Khiva in 1873. Without an escort, and accompanied only 
by 1 servant and two guides, he started from Fort PeroSsky, on the Jax- 
artes or Syr Darya &iver, near the Aral Sea, to overtake General Kauf- 
mann's army, that had gone to the attack of Khiva. Its exact whereabouts 
were unknown ; he had eight or ten days of desert travel before him, and 
if he had fallen into the hands of the Turcomans or Kirghese who roam 
over the desert, his fate would have been certain death. 

" The Eussians at Fort Peroffsky refused to allow him to start, as they 
considered it impossible for him to make the journey, and he was obliged 
to slip out of the place in the night. He had several narrow escapes, but 
managed to get through all right and join General Kauf mann's column just 
as the* fighting before Khiva began. The officers told him the chances of 
his getting across the desert with his life were not more than one in a hun- 
dred. He remained with our army till the end of the Khivan campaign, 
and every officer who knew him felt that he had lost a personal friend 
when the news of MacGahan's death came a few years later. The story of 
his adventures is told in his book—' Campaigning on the Oxus and the 
Fall of Khiva.' 

" In 1875 a similar journey was made by Captain Burnaby, an English 
officer of the Guards. He has given an admirable account of his experi- 
ence in a book entitled, 'A Hide to Khiva.' " 

"Conversation such as this," writes Fred in his journal, "beguiled the 
tediousness of the ride over the flat and desolate region through which 
the railway passes. At the few oases where we stopped, we saw little vil- 
lages of Turcomans, but they were so much alike that the descriptions you 
have already read will answer for them all. At Kizil Arvat we found an 
oasis containing altogether half a dozen square miles of tillable land, on 
which were several Turcoman villages, and a Kussian town of perhaps a 
thousand inhabitants. 

« We call the town Kussian from the flag that waves over it, rather 
than from the nationality of those who live in it. They are Eussians, 



POPULATION OF KIZIL ARVAT. 



475 




TURCOMAN FARM-YARD. 



Turcomans, Kirghese, Persians, Armenians, and Jews, and I don't know 
how many other races and kinds of people. There is a good deal of com- 
merce, mostly in the hands of Armenians and Russians, but much less than 
when the railway terminated here. The business of Merv and the Penjdeh 
district is at the end of the railway ; in this respect the commerce of Cen- 
tral Asia is much like that of our far-western country, and changes its base 
with each change of the means of transport. 

" There is a fort at Kizil Arvat, and also a bazaar, and we are told that 
Askabad is similarly provided. Whenever the Russians establish them- 



THE RETUEN TO MIKHAILOVSK. 



477 



selves in any part of Turkestan, they build a fort and a bazaar side by side. 
Hardly Las the army pitched its tents before the shops are opened and the 
natives are invited to come in and trade. All who come are kindly 
treated ; in a little time whatever hesitation the natives may have possessed 
is gone, and the cheapness of the goods on sale converts the former ene- 
mies into friends. There is no doubt that Russia thoroughly understands 
the Asiatic nature, and deals with it accordingly. 

" Most of our return journey to Mikhailovsk was made in the night, 
which we did not specially regret, where so much of the route was through 
the uninteresting desert. We were told that when the railway was started, 
it was intended to make a narrow-gauge line that would be taken up as soon 
as the capture of Geok Tepe had been accomplished. But the undertaking 
had not gone far before the plans were changed and a well-built railway, 
on the standard gauge of Russia, was the result. The line is well equipped 
with cars, and at no distant day will form a link in the overland route from 
England to India. 

" When the Russian and Indian lines form a connection near Herat or 
Candahar, the Vladikavkaz Railway will be completed to Petrovsk, on the 
Caspian. The traveller may then go from London to Bombay or Calcutta 
in nine or ten days. His entire journey will be made by rail, with the 
exception of the passages of the English channel and the Caspian Sea, the 
former requiring two hours, and the latter an entire day. Russia is al- 
ready talking of an extension of the line from Tsaritsin, along the lower 
Yolga and around the northern end of the Caspian to a connection with 
the Trans-Caspian Railway. Should this line be made, the journey to India 
would be wholly a land route, with the exception of 'The Silver Streak,' 
between Dover and Calais." 

While our friends are musing on the possibilities of the railway to In- 
dia, and its benefits to commerce and civilization, they have recrossed the 
Caspian and are once more in the Petrolia of Europe. And now behold 
them seated in a train of the Trans-Caucasian Railway for a ride to Tiflis 
and the Black Sea. 

A letter in the New York Herald of April 19, 1886, says : 

"The Russians have established a military and naval station at Novi Golfe, on the Cas- 
pian, twenty-two versts north-west of Mikhailovsk, and connected it with the latter point 
by railway. In case of war with England, the Russians are prepared to strike heavy blows 
in Asia. They have two army corps in the Caucasus, and another in Turkestan ready for 
service on their south-eastern frontier. The vessels of the Kavkas and Mercury Steamship 
Company, Noble's naphtha fleet, and .the Greek and Armenian vessels on the Caspian 
(which all fly the Russian flag), would be immediately pressed into the service. The Rus- 
sians believe that, barring bad weather, they could, with these steamers and a number of 



478 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 




RUSSIAN TROOPS IN CENTRAL ASIA. 



479 



sailing-vessels in tow, transport sixty thousand men across the Caspian from Astrachan, 
Baku, and Petrovsk to Novi Golfe and Mikhailovsk in three days. 

"The Russians would thus dispose of about one hundred and fifteen thousand men- 
Army of the Caucasus, sixty thousand; Turkestan, thirty thousand; and fifteen thousand 
Turcoman auxiliaries. These latter will supply the advance of the Russian columns head- 
ing southward from Askabad and Merv. 

" The Russians have shown great tact and cleverness in the management of their Tur- 
coman subjects. There is at Merv a skeleton army, or cadre, of three hundred Turcomans, 
under the command of a Cossack officer named Kalotine. Of the three hundred, one hun- 
dred are from Merv, one hundred are Tekkes, and the remainder from other tribes. These 
men (irregular horse) remain in the service six months. During that time they are paid 
twenty-five roubles a month, and at its expiration are discharged with the rank of sergeant, 
but remain liable to military duty in time of war. This plan was adopted to secure good 
native non-commissioned officers for the fifteen regiments of irregular cavalry. The son 
of the last Khan of Merv is now a Russian sergeant. Ten native Turcomans hold the rank 
of captain in the Russian army, and four that of lieutenant, besides which many decora- 
tions have been given to those who took part in AlikhanofFs foray. 

"The construction of the railway between Askabad and Merv presented great diffi- 
culties, on account of the absence of water in many places. To overcome this, artesian 
wells were dug. The width and current of the Tegend-Bud necessitated an iron bridge at 
Kara-Bend. The Trans-Caspian Railway is built upon the model of the Trans-Caucasian 
one, the stations on both being near together, solidly built and comfortable. There are 
sixteen stations between Mikhailovsk and Askabad (four hundred and twenty-two versts). 



Mikhailovsk to 

Mallakara 22 Ve 

Bala Ischen 35 ' 

Aidin 29 ' 

Paraval 15 ' 

Atcliai-Komm 16 ' 

Kasandjik 31 ' 



sts. 



Ossausan 16 Versts. 

Ouchak 23 " 

Kizil-Arvat 30 " 

Koteh 28 

Barni 24 

Arolman 30 " 



Baharden 30 Versts. 

Keli-Atta 27 " 

Geok-Tepe 25 " 

Besmeni 21 " 

Askabad 20 " 



A NATIVE TRAVELLER. 



480 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



CHAPTEE XXIII. 

BAKU TO TIFLTS. — THE CAPITAL OF THE CAUCASUS. MOUNTAIN TRAVELLING.— 
CROSSING THE RANGE. — PETROLEUM LOCOMOTIVES. — BATOUM AND ITS IMPOR- 
™.-TR™BIZOND AND ERZEROOM.-SEBASTOPOL AND THE ^MEA.-SHORT 
HISTORY OF THE CRIMEAN WAR.-RUSSO-TURKISH WAR OF 1877-78. -BATTLES 
IN THE CRIMEA AND SIEGE OF SEB ASTOPOL. — VISITING THE MALAKOFF AND 
REDAN FORTS -VIEW OF THE BATTLE-FIELDS. CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRI- 
GADE AT BALAKLAV A. —PRESENT CONDITION OF SEBASTOPOL.-ODESSA.-AR- 
RIVAL AT CONSTANTINOPLE -FRANK'S DREAM.-THE END. 

FOR fifty miles after leaving Baku the railway follows the coast of the 
Caspian Sea until it reaches Alayat, where the Government is estab- 
lishing a port that promises to be of considerable importance at no distant 
day The country is a desert dotted with salt lakes, and here and there a 
black patch indicating a petroleum spring. The only vegetation is the 
camel-thorn hush, and much of the ground is so sterile that not even this 
hardy plant can grow. Very little rain falls here, and sometimes there is 
not a drop of it for several months together. _ 

At Alayat the railway turns inland, traversing a desert region where 
there are abundant indications of petroleum ; in fact all the way from 
Baku to Alayat petroleum could be had for the boring, and at the latter 
place several wells have been successfully opened, though the low price 
of the oil stands in the way of their profitable development. After leav- 
ing the desert, a region of considerable fertility is reached. The streams 
flowing down from" the mountains are utilized for purposes of irrigation, 
but very rudely; under a careful system of cultivation the valley of the 
Kura River, which the railway follows to Tiflis, could support a large pop- 

Ulat From Baku to Tiflis by railway is a distance of three hundred and 
fortv-one miles, and the line is said to have cost, including rolling stock, 
about fifty thousand dollars a mile. In the work on the desert portion 
many of the laborers died from the effects of the extreme dryness of the 
atmosphere. The whole distance from Baku to Batoum, on the Black 
Sea, is five hundred and sixty-one miles. 



ARRIVAL AT TIFLIS. 481 

Tiflis is thirteen hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea, and 
the point where the railway reaches its greatest elevation is eighteen hun- 
dred feet higher, or thirty-two hundred feet in all. The grades are very 
steep ; there is one stretch of eight miles where it is two hundred and 





LOOKING DOWN ON THE STEPPE. 



forty feet to the mile, and for a considerable distance it exceeds one hun- 
dred feet to the mile. It is proposed to overcome the steepest grade by a 
long tunnel which would reduce the highest elevation to little more than 
two thousand feet. 

Our friends reached Tiflis in the evening, after an interesting ride, in 
spite of the monotony of the desert portion of the route. Frank will tell 
us the story of their visit to the famous city of the Caucasus. 

" We were somewhat disappointed," said he, " with our first view of 
Tiflis. We had an impression that it was in the centre of a fertile plain 

31 



482 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

surrounded by mountains; actually the ground on which it stands is not 
fertile, and the surroundings consist of brown hills instead of mountains. 
The sides of the hills are barren, and there would hardly be a shrub or 
tree in the city were it not for the system of irrigation which is main- 
tained. The prettiest part of the city is the quarter occupied by the Ger- 
mans, where there are rows and groups of trees and a great many luxuri- 
ant gardens. The Germans are descended from some who came here m 
the last century to escape religious persecution. Though bom in Tiflis 
and citizens of Russia, in every sense they preserve their language and cus^ 
toms, and do not mingle freely with their Muscovite neighbors. 

"There are about one hundred and ten thousand inhabitants m Tiflis; 
nearly one-third are Russians, rather more than a third Armenians, twenty- 
three thousand Georgians, and the rest are Germans, Persians, and mixed 
races in general. Most of the business is in the hands of the Armenians, 
and many of them are wealthy ; nearly all speak Russian, and mingle with 
the Russians more harmoniously than do any of the others. The Persians 
live in a quarter bv themselves, and it is by no means the cleanest part of 
the city. The Georgians preserve their dress and language, and, though 
entirely peaceful, are said to maintain the same hatred to Russia as when 
fighting to preserve their independence. 

° " Many of the officials in the Caucasus are Armenians, and some of the 
ablest generals of the Russian army belong to the same race. Gen. Loris 
MelikofT is an Armenian, and so are Generals Lazareff and Tergoukasoil, 
as well as others of less importance. The Armenians have four newspa- 
pers at Tiflis, and four monthly reviews. There are nearly a million of 
these people in Russia and the Caucasus, and their treatment is m marked 
contrast to that of the eight hundred thousand Armenian subjects of Tur- 
key who have been most cruelly oppressed by the Sultan and his officers. 

" "We had read of the beauty of the Georgians, who used to sell their 
daughters to be the wives of the Turks, and naturally looked around us 
for handsome faces. We saw them among the men as well as among the 
women ; and we saw more handsome men than women, perhaps for the 
reason that men were much more numerous. The Georgians are a fine 
race of people, and so are all the natives of the Caucasus. The mountain 
air all the world over has a reputation for developing strength and intelli- 
gence among those who breathe it. 

« Since the occupation of Georgia and the other parts of the Caucasus 
by Russia, the people are no longer sold as slaves for Turkish masters. 
Whatever may be the faults of the Russian rule, it is certainly far in 
advance of that of Turkey. 



484 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

" Tiflis may be said to be in two parts, the old and the new. The for- 
mer is on the bank of the river, and its streets are narrow and dirty ; the 
new part is on higher ground, and has been chiefly built by the Eussians 
since they obtained possession of the country. In this part the streets are 
wide, and lined with many handsome buildings ; in the old part there are 
several Armenian churches and caravansaries, and the greater portion of 
the commerce is transacted there. 

" We saw a great many Russian soldiers, and were told that a large 
garrison is always maintained in Tiflis, which is a central point from 
which troops can be sent in any direction. The Government offices 
and the palace of the Governor-general are in the Russian quarter, and 
of course there are plenty of Russian churches, with their gilded domes 
sparkling in the sunlight. 

" We visited one of the churches, and also the Armenian Cathedral ; 
we tried to see the interior of a mosque, but were forbidden admittance 
except on payment of more money than we chose to give. We drove to 
the hot baths, which are situated just outside the city ; they are largely 
patronized, and have an excellent reputation for the relief of gout, rheu- 
matism, and similar troubles. There are many hot springs in the neigh- 
borhood of Tiflis that have been flowing for centuries, without any change 
in temperature or volume. 

" We wanted to go overland to Vladikavkaz, for the sake of the jour- 
ney among the Caucasus, but our plans were otherwise, and we continued 
by railway to Batoum. The mountains of this range are as picturesque 
as any we have ever seen. The passes are like those of the Alps or the 
Sierra Nevadas, and as we wound along the line of railway to the crest of 
the divide, every moment revealed a new and splendid picture. We had 
distant views of Elburz and Ararat, two of the most famous mountains of 
this region, and greatly regretted our inability to visit the latter, which is 
revered as the resting-place of Noah's Ark. Mount Ararat has been as- 
cended by several travellers ; they describe the journey as very fatiguing, 
but were amply repaid by the magnificent view from the summit. 

"We left Tiflis dry and dusty, and the dry air remained with us till 
we crossed the ridge and began our descent. Then we entered the clouds, 
and as we passed below their level found ourselves in a pouring rain. 
The western slope of the Caucasus is a rainy region, while the eastern is 
dry. Baku has too little rain, and Batoum too much ; the western slope 
is luxuriant, while the eastern is an arid desert, and the fertility of the 
former continues down to the shore of the Black Sea. 

" Grapes and melons were offered at every station, at prices that were 




486 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

a marvel of cheapness. Two cents would buy a large melon, and the same 
money was gladly accepted for a bunch of grapes which would furnish a 
dinner for a very hungry man. A great deal of wine is raised m this 
re-ion - three hundred thousand acres are said to be devoted to the cult- 
ure of the grape in the Caucasus, and about forty million gallons of wine 
are made annually. Wine is plenty and cheap; the Russians refuse to 
drink the wine of the Caucasus, just as California^ affect to despise that 

of their own State. We are told that 
a large part of the so-called foreign 
wine sold in Tiflis and other cities 
of the Caucasus is really the product 
of the country under fictitious labels. 

» We have already mentioned the 
use of petroleum in the locomotives 
of the Trans -Caucasian Eailway. 
Where we stopped for fuel and water 
the petroleum-tank was side by side 
with the water-tank, and there was 
no sign of wood-yard or coal-heap. 
govkrnor-general of the Caucasus. A few minutes charged the tender 

with petroleum and water, in sepa- 
rate compartments, and then we moved on, just as on any other railway 

line. . , 

"It is delightful riding behind a petroleum locomotive, as there are 
neither cinders nor smoke. After the fire is started the furnace door is 
not opened; the fireman regards the flame through a hole about two 
inches square, and regulates it just as may be desired. They told us that 
steam could be more evenly maintained than with coal or wood ; there 
was no excess of steam while waiting at stations, and consequently no 
necessity for 'blowing off.' Wonder what railway in America will be the 
first to adopt the new fuel? . , 

"The Trans-Caucasian Railway was begun in 1871 ; its starting-point 
was at Poti, which has a poor harbor and stands in marshy ground, so that 
fevers and malaria are altogether too common. In 1878 Russia came into 
possession of Batoum, which has a good harbor, and immediately a branch 
line sixty miles long was built from that city to connect with the railway. 
Now nearly all the business has gone to Batoum. Poti is decaying very 
rapidly, but for military reasons it is not likely to be abandoned. 

« By the treaty of Berlin Batoum was made a free port, and the Rus- 
sians were forbidden to fortify it ; but they have kept the Turkish fortifica- 



BATOUM AND ITS FORTIFICATIONS. 



487 



tions, and not only kept them unin jured, but have repaired them whenever 
there were signs of decay. On this subject the following story is told : 

"The casemated fortress which commands the port required to be 
strengthened in certain points, and the contractors were asked for estimates 
for the work. One man presented an estimate which he headed ' Repairs 
to Fortifications.' The general commanding the district immediately sent 
for the contractor, and said to him, 

" ' There are no fortifications in Batoum ; they are forbidden by the 
treaty of Berlin. Your estimates must be for " garrison-barrack repairs." 
Remember this in all your dealings with the Government.' 

" We were only a few hours in Batoum, as we embraced the opportu- 




RUINED FORTRESS IN THE CAUCASUS. 



nity to embark on one of the Russian Company's steamers for Sebastopol 
and Odessa. Batoum is growing very rapidly, and promises to be a place 
of great importance in a very few years. The old town of the Turks has 



4:88 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



given place to a new one ; the Russians have destroyed nearly all the rick- 
ety old buildings, laid out whole streets and avenues of modern ones, ex- 
tended the piers running into the sea, drained the marshes that formerly 
made the place unhealthy, and in other ways have displayed their enter- 
prise. We were told that there is a great deal of smuggling carried on 
here, but probably no more than at Gibraltar, Hong-Kong, and other free 
ports in other parts of the world. 

« And now behold us embarked on a comfortable steamer, and bidding 
farewell to the Caucasus. Our steamer belongs to the Russian Company 
of Navigation and Commerce, which has its headquarters at Odessa ; it 




RUINED CHURCH NEAR BATOUM. 



sends its ships not only to the ports of the Black Sea, but to the Levan- 
tine coast of the Mediterranean, through the Suez Canal to India, and 
through the Strait of Gibraltar to England. A line to New York and 
another to China and Japan are under consideration ; it is probable that 
the latter will be established before the Trans- Atlantic one. The company 
owns more than a hundred steamers, and is heavily subsidized by the Rus- 
sian Government." 

The first stop of the steamer was made at Trebizond, the most impor- 
tant port of Turkey, on the southern coast of the Black Sea. It has a pop- 
ulation of about fifty thousand, and carries on an extensive commerce with 
Persia and the interior of Asiatic Turkey. Latterly its commerce has suf- 



SIGHTS IN TREBIZOND. 



489 



fered somewhat by the opening of the Caspian route from Russia to Per- 
sia, but it is. still very large. 

Frank and Fred had two or three hours on shore at Trebizond, which 
enabled them to look at the walls and gardens of this very ancient city, 
Frank recorded in his note-book that Trebizond was the ancient Trapezi- 
us, and that it was a flourishing city at the time of Xenophon's famous re- 
treat, which every college boy has read about in the " Anabasis." It was 
captured by the Romans when they defeated Mithridates. The Emperor 
Trajan tried to improve the port by building a mole, and made the city 
the capital of Cappadocian Pontus. 

The Trebizond of to-day consists of the old and new town, the former 
surrounded by walls enclosing the citadel, and the latter without walls and 




QUARANTINE HARBOR, TREBIZOND. 



extending back over the hills. It has two harbors, both of them unsafe at 
certain seasons of the year. A few millions of the many that Turkey has 
spent in the purchase of cannon and iron-clad ships of war would make the 
port of Trebizond one of the best on the coast of the Black Sea 



490 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 

Great numbers of camels, pack-horses, and oxen were receiving or dis- 
charging their loads at the warehouses near the water-front. Fred ascer- 
tained on inquiry that there were no wagon-roads to Persia or the interior 
of Asiatic Turkey, but that all merchandise was carried on the backs of 
animals. One authority says sixty thousand pack-horses, two thousand 




VIEW OF EKZEROOM. 

camels, three thousand oxen, and six thousand donkeys are employed in 
the Persian trade, and the value of the commerce exceeds seven million 
dollars per annum. 

" We are only a hundred and ten miles from Erzeroom," said Fred, 
" the city of Turkish Armenia, which is well worth seeing. Wouldn't it 
be fun to go there and have a look at a place that stands more than a mile 
in the air V 

" Is that really so ?" Frank asked ; " more than a mile in the air ?" 

" Yes," replied his cousin, " Erzeroom is six thousand two hundred 
feet above the level of the sea, and two hundred feet higher than the 
plain which surrounds it. It had a hundred thousand inhabitants at the 
beginning of this century, but now has about a third of that number. 



ik 



SHORT HISTORY OF THE CRIMEAN WAR. 



491 



owing to the emigration of the Armenians after the war between Turkey 
and Russia in 1829. It is frightfully cold in winter and terribly hot in 
summer, but for all that the climate is healthy." 
" How long will it take us to get there ?" 

" About fifty hours," was the reply. " We must go on horseback, but 
can return in forty hours, as the road descends a great part of the way 
from Erzeroom to Trebizond. Isn't it strange that with such an immense 
trade as there is between that place and this — for the road to Persia passes 
through Erzeroom — the Turks have been content with a bridle-path in- 
stead of a wagon-road, or, better still, a railway. Besides — " 

Further discussion of the road to Erzeroom and the possibilities of 
travelling it were cut short by the announcement that it was time to 
return to the steamer. An hour later our friends saw the coast of Asiatic 
Turkey fading in the distance, as the steamer headed for Southern Russia. 

Her course was laid for Sebastopol, the city which is famous for the 
long siege it sustained during the Crimean war, and for possessing the 
finest natural harbor on the Black Sea. Doctor Bronson suggested that 
the youths should dispose of the time of the voyage by reading up the 
history of that celebrated war, and particularly of the siege and capture 
of Sebastopol. 

The weather was fine enough to tempt them to idleness, but Frank 
and Fred had a rule that when they had anything to do they would do it. 
Accordingly they busied themselves with the books at their command, and 
made the following condensed account of the contest of Russia with the 
nations of Western Europe : 

" The Crimea was conquered by Russia in the time of Catherine the 
Great, and immediately after the conquest the Russians began to fortify 
the harbor of Sebastopol (Sacred City). When they went there they found 
only a miserable Tartar village called Akhtiar ; they created one of the 
finest naval and military ports in the world, and built a city with broad 
streets and handsome quays and docks. In 1850 it had a population of 
about fifty thousand, which included many soldiers and marines, together 
with workmen employed in the Government establishments. 

" In 1850 there was a dispute between France and Russia relative to 
the custody of the holy places in Palestine ; there had been a contention 
concerning this matter for several centuries, in which sometimes the 
Greek Church and sometimes the Latin had the advantage. In 1850, at 
the suggestion of Turkey, a mixed commission was appointed to consider 
the dispute and decide upon it. 

"The Porte, as the Turkish Government is officially; designated, issued 



492 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



in March, 1852, a decree that the Greek Church should be confirmed in 
the rights it formerly held, and that the Latins could not claim exclusive 
possession of any of the holy places. It allowed them to have a key to the 




TURKISH AUTHORITY. 



Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, and to certain other buildings of 
minor importance. 

" If you want to know how the Christian churches are now quarrelling 
about the sacred places in the East, read Chapters XXII., XXIII., and 
XXIY. of ' The Boy Travellers in Egypt and the Holy Land.' 

" France accepted the decision, though she did not like it ; Eussia con- 
tinued to demand that the Latin monks should be 'deprived of their keys, 
and finally insisted that the Czar should have a protectorate over the Greek 



SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL, 



493 



Christians in Turkey. The Porte said such a protectorate would interfere 
with its own authority, and refused the demand ; thereupon the Russian 
Minister left Constantinople on the 21st of May, 1853. 

" This may be considered the beginning of the war between Kussia and 
Turkey, though there was no lighting for several months. 

" France came to the aid of Turkey ; England came to the aid of Tur- 
key and France. Representatives of England, France, Austria, and Prus- 
sia met at Vienna and agreed upon a note which Kussia accepted ; Turkey 
demanded modifications which Russia refused; Turkey declared war 
against Russia on the 5th of October, and Russia declared war against 
Turkey on the 1st of November. 

"A Turkish fleet of twelve ships was lying at Sinope, a port on the 
southern shore of the Black Sea. On the 30th of November the Russians 
sent a fleet of eleven ships from Sebastopol which destroyed the Turkish 
fleet, all except one ship that carried the news to Constantinople. Then 
the allied fleets of the French and English entered the Black Sea, and the 
war began in dead earnest. For some months it was confined to the Danu- 
bian principalities and to the Baltic Sea; on the 14th of September, 1854, 
the allied army landed at Eupatoria, in the Crimea, and the extent of their 
preparations will be understood when it is known that forty thousand men, 
with a large number of horses and a full equipment of artillery, were put 
on shore in a single day ! 

" On the 20th of September the battle of the Alma was fought by 
fifty-seven thousand English, French, and Turkish 'troops, against fifty 
thousand Russians. The battle began at noon, and four hours later the 
Russians were defeated and in full retreat. The Russians lost five thou- 
sand men, and the Allies about three thousand four hundred ; the Allies 
might have marched into Sebastopol with very little resistance, but their 
commanders were uncertain as to the number of troops defending the city, 
and hesitated to make the attempt. 

" On the 17th of October the siege began. A grand attack was made 
by the Allies, but was unsuccessful, and eight days later the famous charge 
of the Light Brigade at Balaklava was made. On the 5th of November 
the Russians attacked the Allies at Inkermann, and were repulsed. The 
battle of Inkermann was fought in a fog by forty thousand Russians against 
fifteen thousand French and English. The latter had the advantage of 
position and weapons; the Allies frankly credited the Russian troops with 
the greatest bravery in returning repeatedly to the attack as their bat- 
talions were mowed down by the steady fire of the defenders. 

"During the winter the siege was pushed, and the allied army suffered 



494 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



greatly from cholera, cold, and sickness. The siege continued during 
spring and summer ; the Allies made an unsuccessful attack on the Maia- 
kofl: and Eedan forts on the 18th of June, 1855, and all through the long 
months there were daily conflicts between the opposing armies. 

" The Russians sunk several ships of their fleet in the harbor of Sebas- 
topol soon after the battle of the Alma, but retained others for possible 
future use. On the 8th of September the French captured the Malakoff 
fort, the English at the same time making an unsuccessful attack on the 
Eedan. The Russians evacuated Sebastopol during the night, crossing 
over to the north side of the harbor, burning or sinking their fleet, and 
destroying their military stores. 

" This gave the Allies the possession of the city, and though the two 
armies confronted each other for some time, there was never any serious 
flo-htina- after that. Other warlike operations were conducted along the 
Russian shores of the Black Sea, Proposals of peace were made by Aus- 
tria with the consent of the Allies, and finally, on the 30th of March, 1856, 
the treaty of peace was signed at Paris. The Allies had begun the destruc- 
tion of the docks at Sebastopol, but so extensive were those works that 
with all the engineering skill at their command they were not through 
with it until July 9th, when they evacuated the Crimea." 

"Will that do for a condensed history of the Crimean War?" said 
Frank, as the result of their labors was submitted to the Doctor. 

" It will do very well," was the reply. " Perhaps some of your school- 
mates who are not fond of history may be inclined to skip, but I think 
the majority of readers will thank you for giving it." 

" Perhaps they would like a few words on the war between Turkey and 
Russia in 1877-78," said Fred. "If you think so we will give it." 

Doctor Bronson approved the suggestion, and an hour or two later 
Fred submitted the following : 

" In 1875 and '76 there were disturbances in Constantinople and in 
several provinces of European Turkey. The Sultan of Turkey was de- 
posed, and either committed suicide or was murdered. There were revolts 
in Herzegovina and Bulgaria, and the troops sent to suppress these revolts 
committed many outrages. Servia and Montenegro made war upon Tur- 
key on behalf of the Christian subjects of the Porte ; Russia came to the 
support of Servia and Montenegro. There was a vast deal of diplomacy, in 
which all the great powers joined, and on several occasions it looked as 
though half of Europe would be involved in the difficulty. 

" Turkey and Servia made peace on March 1, 1877. The principal 
nations of Europe held a conference, and made proposals for reforms in 



496 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE EUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



Turkey which the Porte rejected. Knssia declared war against Turkey 
April 24, 1877, and immediately entered the Turkish dominions in Eou- 
mania and Armenia. 

"The war lasted until March 3, 1878, when a treaty of peace was 
made at San Stefano, near Constantinople. Many battles were fought 
during the war, and the losses were heavy on both sides ; the severest bat- 
tles were those of the Shipka Pass and of Plevna. The fortune of war 
■fluctuated, but on the whole the successes were on the side of Eussia, and 




RUINS OF THE MALAKOPF, SEBASTOPOL. 

her armies finally stood ready to enter Constantinople. Her losses were 
said to have been fully one hundred thousand men, and the cost of the 
war was six hundred million dollars. 

"After the war came the Berlin Conference of 1878, which gave inde- 
pendence to some of the countries formerly controlled by Turkey, made 
new conditions for the government of others, regulated the boundaries be- 
tween Eussia and Turkey, giving the former several ports and districts of 
importance, and required the Porte to guarantee certain rights and privi- 
leges to her Christian subjects. England interfered, as she generally does, 
to prevent Eussia from reaping the full advantages she expected from 



ARRIVAL AT SEBASTOPOL. 



497 



the war, and altogether the enterprise was a very costly one for the govern- 
ment of the Czar." 

" A very good summary of the war," said the Doctor. " You have dis- 
posed of an important phase of the 6 Eastern Question ' with a brevity that 
some of the diplomatic writers would do well to study. You might add 
that for two centuries Russia has had her eye on Constantinople, and is 
determined to possess it ; England is equally determined that Russia shall 
not have her way, and the other powers are more in accord with England 
than with Russia." 

The steamer entered the harbor of Sebastopol, and made fast to the 
dock. Frank and Fred observed that the port was admirably defended 
by forts at the entrance. Doctor Bronson told them the forts which 
stood there in 1854 were destroyed by the Allies after the capture of 
the city, but they have since been rebuilt and made stronger than ever 
before. 

As they neared the forts that guard the entrance of the harbor, a Rus- 
sian officer who was familiar with the locality pointed out several objects 
of interest. " On the left," said he, " that pyramid on the low hill indi- 
cates the battle-field of Inkermann ; still farther on the left is the valley of 
the Alma ; those white dots near the Inkermann pyramid mark the site of 
the British cemetery, and close by it is the French one. In front of you 
and beyond the harbor is the mound of the Malakoff, and beyond it are the 
Redan and the Mamelon Yert. Those heaps of ruins are the walls of the 
Marine Barracks and Arsenal ; they are rapidly disappearing in the restor- 
ation that has been going on since 1871, and in a few years we hope to 
have them entirely removed." 

There was quite a crowd at the landing-place, variously composed of 
officers, soldiers, and mujiks ; the former for duty or curiosity, and the 
mujiks scenting a possible job. Our friends proceeded directly to the 
hotel, which was only two or three hundred yards from the landing-place. 
As soon as they had selected their rooms and arranged the terms for their 
accommodation, Dr. Bronson told the proprietor that they wished a car- 
riage and a guide as soon as possible. A messenger was despatched at 
once for the carriage, while the guide was summoned from another part of 
the house. 

"I suppose you will go first to the cemetery," said the host of the 
establishment. 

"We don't care for the cemetery," said the Doctor, "until we have 
seen everything else. If there is any time remaining, we may have a look 
at it." 

32 



498 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



" Then you are Americans," exclaimed the landlord. " All English- 
men coming here want to go first to the cemetery as they have friends 
buried there, but Americans never care for it." 

Doctor Bronson smiled at this mode of ascertaining the nationality of 
English-speaking visitors, and said it had been remarked by previous visit- 
ors to Sebastopol. 

When the guide and carriage were ready, the party started on its round 
of visits. From the bluff they looked down upon the harbor, which was 
lined with workshops and bordered in places by a railway track, arranged 




RUSSIAN CARPENTERS AT WORK. 



so that ships were laden directly from the trains, and trains from the ships. 
The railway connects with the entire system of the Empire. Doctor Bron- 
son said that if it had existed at the time of the war, the capture of Sebas- 
topol would have been out of the question. Kussia had then only a primi- 
tive means of communication by wagon-road ; she had an abundance of 
men and war material, but no adequate mode of transportation. The Cri- 



THE MALAKOFF AND REDAN. 



499 




COSSACKS AND CHASSEURS. 

mean war taught her the necessity of railways, and she has since acted 
upon the lesson for which she paid such a high price. 

Frank and Fred climbed quickly to the top of the Malakoff, and the 
Doctor followed demurely behind them. The lines which marked the saps 
and mines of the Allies have been nearly all filled up, and the traces of the 
war are being obliterated. From the top of the casemate the guide pointed 



500 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



out many places of interest. With considerable animation he told how for 
twenty years after the war the ruins of the city remained pretty nearly as 
they were when the Allies evacuated the Crimea ; whole squares of what 
had once been fine buildings were nothing but heaps of stones. But now 
Sebastopol is being restored to her former beauty, and every year large 
areas of the ruins are making way for new structures. 

" Sebastopol will be a greater city than it ever was before," said Doc- 
tor Bronson, as they stood on the MalakofL " It was a naval port before, 
and not a commercial one ; now it is both naval and commercial, and by 
glancing at the map of the Black Sea you can perceive the advantages of 
its position." 

Then the guide pointed out the new dock-yards and barracks, the ware- 
houses and docks of "The Kussian Company of Navigation and Com- 
merce," the railway-station close to the shore of the harbor, and the blocks 
of new buildings which were under construction. 

Then he showed the positions of Inkermann, the Tchernaya, and the 
Kedan, and indicated the lines of the French and English attack. When 
the scene had been sufficiently studied, the party returned to the carriage 
and continued their ride. The driver was instructed to go to Balaklava, 
stopping on the way to show them the spot which history has made famous 
for the charge of the Light Brigade. 

As they passed along the level plateau or plain of Sebastopol, they saw 
everywhere traces of the camps of the armies that besieged the city. The 
guide showed the route of the railway which connected the harbor of Bala- 
klava with the camp, the wagon-roads built by the Allies, the redoubts 
that served as defences against attacks in the rear, and the ridges of earth 
which marked the positions of the huts where officers and soldiers had their 
quarters during the terrible winter of 1854-55. 

Naturally the conversation turned upon the charge of the Light Bri- 
gade. One of the youths asked the Doctor what he thought of it. 

"There has been a great deal of controversy about the matter," was 
the reply. " It is difficult to arrive at the exact facts, as Captain Nolan, 
who brought the order for the cavalry to advance, was killed in the charge. 
Comparing the statements of all concerned in issuing, receiving, and exe- 
cuting the order, it is evident that the order was ' blundered ' somewhere. 
This was the understanding immediately after the controversy ; Tenny- 
son's poem on the affair originally contained the following: 

" ' Then up came an order 

Which some one had blundered/ 



THE FAMOUS CHARGE AT BALAKLAVA. 



501 



Afterwards these lines were stricken out, and do not appear in the poem 
as printed in the editions of Tennyson's works. 

" The commander of the French army justly remarked of this charge, 
' C'est magnifique, metis ce n> est pas la guerre'' (" It is magnificent, but it is 
not war "). Twelve thousand Russians had attacked the English with the 
intention of taking Balaklava and its port, but they were compelled to re- 




BRITISH SOLDIKJRS IN CAMP. 



tire to the end of the valley. They had re-formed, with their artillery in 
front, and infantry and cavalry immediately -behind. By the misunder- 
standing of the order of Lord Raglan, the British commander-in-chief. 
Lord Lucan, who commanded the cavalry division, ordered Lord Cardigan 
to charge with his light cavalry. 

" In other w 7 ords the light cavalry, six hundred and seventy strong, 
were to attack twelve thousand Russians with thirty cannon on their 
front. The charge was over a plain a mile and a half long, and the Rus- 
sians had a battery of field artillery on each side of the valley within sup- 



502 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



porting distance of that at the end. Consequently there is an excellent 
description of the scene in Tennyson's lines, 

" 'Cannon to right of them, 
Cannon to left of them, 
Cannon in front of them, 
Volley'd and thunder'd.' 

" The charge was made very reluctantly by Lord Cardigan, as you may 
well believe, but he had no alternative other than to obey the order of 
his superior. There was never a more brilliant charge. The column 

advanced at a trot for the first half of the 
distance, and afterwards at a gallop; the 
Kussian cannon made huge gaps in the 
ranks, but they were closed up, and on and 
on swept the heroes, up to and beyond the 
Russian cannon — 

"'Sabring the gunners there, 
Charging an army, while 

All the world wonder'd : 
Plunged in the battery-smoke, 
Right thro' the line they broke; 
Cossack and Russian 
Reel'd from the sabre- stroke 

Shatter'd and sunder'd. 
Then they rode back, but not, 
Not the six hundred.' 

" According to one authority, out of six 
hundred and seventy British horsemen that 
went to the charge, only one hundred and 
ninety -eight returned. Another authority 
gives the total loss in killed, wounded, and 
captured as four hundred and twenty -six. 
Five hundred and twenty horses were lost 
in the charge." 

" Here is Balaklava," said the guide, as 
alfred tennyson. the carriage stopped at a turn in the road 

overlooking the valley. 
Our friends stepped from the vehicle and sat down upon a little mound 
of earth, where they tried to picture the scene of the dreadful October 
day of 1854. Of the actors and spectators of that event very few are 
now alive. 

The Doctor completed the recitation of the poem, and his youthf ul 




BALAKLAVA HARBOR. 



503 



listeners felt down to the depths of their hearts the full force of the 
closing lines i 

" Honor the brave and bold, 
Long shall the tale be told, 
Yea, when our babes are old, 

How they rode onward. 
When can their glory fade ? 
O the wild charge they made! 

All the world wonder'd. 
Honor the charge they made ! 
Honor the Light Brigade ! 

Noble six hundred!" 

From the battle-field the party went to the village of Balaklava and 
hired a row-boat, in which they paddled about the little, landlocked harbor, 




A BROKEN TARANTASSE. 



and out through its entrance till they danced on the blue waters of the 
Euxine Sea. Frank and Fred could hardly believe that the narrow basin 



504 



THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



once contained a hundred and fifty English and French ships ; it seemed 
that there was hardly room for a third of that number. 

On their return journey they passed a party with a broken tarantasse. . 
They stopped a moment and offered any assistance in their power, but 
finding they could be of no use they did not tarry long. When they 
reached Sebastopol the sun had gone down in the west, and the stars 




THE BOSPORUS. 



twinkled in the clear sky that domed the Crimea. The next morning 
they rambled about the harbor and docks of the city, and a little past 
noon were steaming away in the direction of Odessa. 

A day was spent in this prosperous city, which has a population of 
nearly two hundred thousand, on a spot where at the end of the last cen- 
tury there was only a Tartar village of a dozen houses, and a small fortress 
of Turkish construction. Odessa has an extensive commerce, and the 
ships of all nations lie at its wharves. Its greatest export trade is in 
wheat, which goes to all parts of the Mediterranean, and also to England. 
The Black Sea wheat formerly found a market in America, but all that 
has been changed in recent years through the development of the wheat- 
growing interest in our Western States and on the Pacific Coast. 

Immediately on their arrival they sent their passports to receive the 



A DREAM OF THE FUTURE. 



505 



proper permission for leaving the country. Everything was arranged 
in the course of the day, and on the following afternoon they embarked 
on a steamer that carried them to Constantinople. 

The second morning after leaving Odessa they entered the Bosporus, 
the strait which separates Europe and Asia, and connects the waters of 
the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmora and the Mediterranean. As they 
looked at the beautiful panorama, which shifted its scene with every pulsa- 
tion of the steamer's engine, Frank said he had had a dream during the 
night which was so curious that he wanted to tell it. 

" What was it ?" the Doctor asked. 

"I dreamed," said Frank, "that England and Eussia had become 
friends, and made up their minds to work together for the supremacy of 
the world. England had supplied the money for completing the railway 
to India ; she had built a tunnel under the British Channel, and it was 
possible to ride from London to Calcutta or Bombay without changing 
cars. The Turks had been expelled from Europe ; European Turkey was 
governed by a Eussian prince married to an English princess ; the princi- 
pality had its capital at Constantinople, and a guarantee of neutrality like 
that of Belgium, to which all the great powers had assented. War and 
commercial ships of all nations could pass the Bosporus and Dardanelles 
as freely as through the Suez Canal, and the restrictions made by the treaty 
of Paris were entirely removed. England and Eussia had formed an of- 
fensive and defensive alliance, and all the rest of the world had been 
ordered to keep the peace. And they were keeping it, too, as they dreaded 
the combined power of England's money and Russia's men." 

" A very pretty fancy !" said the Doctor. " What a pity it was all a 
dream !" 



THE END. 



5 

! 




INTERESTING BOOKS FOR BOYS. 



BOUND VOLUMES OF HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE for 1881, 1883, 1884, 1885, and 
1886, Handsomely Bound in Illuminated Cloth, $3 50 per vol. Bound Volumes for 
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Travels among the Exiles, and a Historical Sketch of the Empire from its Founda- 
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THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN SOUTH AMERICA. Adventures of Two Youths in a 
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Mr. Stubbs's Brother. A Sequel to "Toby Tyler." By James Otis. 

Tim and Tip ; or, The Adventures of a Boy and a Dog. By James Otis. 

Left Behind; or, Ten Days a Newsboy. By James. Otis. 

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Silent Pete. By James Otis. 

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Mildred's Bargain, and Other Stories. By Lucy C. Lillie. 

Nan. By Lucy C. Lillie. 

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The Talking Leaves. An Indian Story. By W. 0. Stoddard. 

Two Arrows. A Story of Red and White. By W. O. Stoddard. 

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The Ice Queen. By Ernest Ingeusoll. 

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POLITICS FOR YOUNG AMERICANS. By Charles Nordhoff. 12mo, Half Leather, 

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THE CHILDREN OF OLD PARK'S TAVERN. A Story of the South' Shore. By 
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Interesting Books for Boys. 



?, 



STORIES OF THE GORILLA COUNTRY. By Paul B. Du Chaillu. Illustrated. 
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THE COUNTRY OF THE DWARFS. By Paul B. Du Chaillu. Illustrated. 12mo, 
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WILD LIFE UNDER THE EQUATOR. By Paul B. Du Chaillu. Illustrated. 
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MY APINGI KINGDOM: with Life in the Great Sahara, aud Sketches of the Chase of 
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LOST IN THE JUNGLE. By Paul B. Du Chaillu. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. 

THE BOYHOOD OF GREAT MEN. By John G. Edgar. Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, 
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HISTORY FOR BOYS ; or, Annals of the Nations of Modern Europe. By John G. 
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SEA-KINGS AND NAVAL HEROES. A Book for Boys. By John G. Edgar. Illus- 
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THE WARS OF THE ROSES. By John G. Edgar. Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00. 

UPLAND AND MEADOW. A Poaetqnissings Chronicle. By Charles C. Abbott, M.D. 
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STORIES OF THE ISLAND WORLD. By Charles Nordhoff. Illustrated. 12mo, 
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THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS; or, The Arabian Nights' Entertainments. 
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THE LIFE AND SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE, of York, 
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r 



Interesting Books for Boys. 



THE HISTORY OF A MOUTHFUL OF BREAD, and its Effect on the Organization 
of Men and Animals. By Jean Mace. Translated from the Eighth French 'Edition 
by Mrs. Alfred Gatty. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75. 

THE SERVANTS OF THE STOMACH. By Jean Mace. Reprinted from the London 
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FRED MARKHAM IN RUSSIA; or, The Boy Travellers in the Land of the Czar. By 
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SELF-MADE MEN. By Charles C. B. Seymour. Many Portraits. 12mo, Cloth, 
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THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON ;. or, Adventures of a Father and Mother aud Four 
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THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON — Continued : being a Sequel to the Foregoing. 2 
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DOGS AND THEIR DOINGS. By Rev. F. O. Morris, B.A. Illustrated. Square 8vo, 
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TALES FROM THE ODYSSEY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. By C. M. B. 32ino, Paper, 
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THE ADVENTURES OF REUBEN DAVIDGER ; Seventeen Years and Four Months 
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WILD SPORTS OF THE WORLD. A Book of Natural History and Adventure. By 
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CAST UP BY THE SEA; or, The Adventures of Ned Grey. By Sir Samuel W. Baker, 
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HOMES WITHOUT HANDS : Being a Description of the Habitations of Animals, classed 
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Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New YoM. ' ° 

JBSg^ Harper & Brothers will send any of the above works by mail, pontage prepaid, to any part of the United 
States or Canada, on receipt of the pric.Q, 



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